Citizens
For Legitimate Governmentis a multi-partisan
activist group established to expose the Bush
coup d'etat, and to oppose the Bush
occupation in all of its manifestations.

May
2007 Archives, Page Two

Bush
endorses CIA plans for regime change in Iran 28 May 2007 President
[sic] George W Bush has given the CIA approval to launch covert 'black'
operations to achieve regime change in Iran, intelligence sources have
revealed. Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for
a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilise, and
eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs. Under the plan,
pressure will be brought to bear on the Iranian economy by manipulating
the country's currency and international financial transactions. Details
have also emerged of a covert scheme to sabotage the Iranian nuclear
programme, which United Nations nuclear watchdogs said last week
could lead to a bomb within three years.

Iran
says it has uncovered several U.S. spy networks 26 May 2007
Iran is claiming to have uncovered a number of spy rings it says have
been organized by the United States and its Western allies. In a statement
carried on state[as opposed to corporate]-run television, the Intelligence
Ministry says that the espionage networks were made up of "infiltrating
elements from the Iraqi occupiers." Iran uses the phrase "Iraqi occupiers"
as shorthand for the US and its allies. [Everyone does.]

U.S.
Security Contractors Open Fire in Baghdad --Blackwater Mercenaries
Were Involved in Two Shooting Incidents in Past Week 27 May 2007
Mercenaries of Blackwater USA, a private security firm under contract
to the State Department, opened fire on the streets of Baghdad twice
in two days last week, and one of the incidents provoked a standoff
between the mercenaries and Iraqi forces, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
A Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver Thursday near the
Interior Ministry, according to three U.S. officials and one Iraqi official
who were briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity
because of a pending investigation [cover-up].

'Half
of the Iraqi security forces are insurgents.'Doubts
Grow as G.I.'s in Iraq Find Allies in Enemy Ranks 27 May 2007
The pivotal moment came, Staff Sgt. David Safstrom says, this past February
when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched
the bomber’s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant
in the Iraqi Army. "I thought, 'What are we doing here? Why are
we still here?'" said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company
of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division.
"We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in
the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us."

Military
chiefs give US six months to win Iraq war--Violence
expected to rise after UK withdrawal --Troop
numbers too low --Coalition
is 'disintegrating'
28 May 2007 An elite team of officers advising US commander General
David Petraeus in Baghdad has concluded the US has six months to win
the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and
public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.

$100bn
more to 'fight' terror 26 May 2007 American spending on Iraq
and Afghanistan has eclipsed the cost of the Vietnam War, making the
War on [of] Terror the second most expensive conflict in United
States' history. The Senate approved a budget of almost $100 billion
(£50 billion) for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, taking total spending
to £300 billion. This is more than the inflation-adjusted £276 billion
that the US spent in its ill-fated nine-year war in Vietnam.

Ten
US troops killed as Iraq debate heats up 28 May 2007 Ten more
American soldiers have been killed in fighting in Iraq, the military
announced on today, on the eve of war-weary Washington's annual Memorial
Day commemoration of its war dead.

Bombs
Kill 2 G.I.'s in Iraq as Death Toll Near Year's High --103
American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, not counting unidentified
body 27 May 2007 Two more American soldiers have died from roadside
bombs, the American military said Sunday, as American forces decided
to run DNA tests on a body that could be that of one of the remaining
two missing soldiers seized in an ambush on May 12 south of Baghdad.

I
Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty.
By Andrew J. Bacevich 27 May 2007 Money buys access and influence. Money
greases the process that will yield us a new president in 2008. When
it comes to Iraq, money ensures that the concerns of big business, big
oil, bellicose evangelicals and Middle East allies gain a hearing. By
comparison, the lives of U.S. soldiers figure as an afterthought. Memorial
Day orators will say that a G.I.'s life is priceless. Don't believe
it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier's life:
I've been handed the check. It's roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger
Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

U.S.
frees 42 Iraqi captives in raid
28 May 2007 American forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis — some of whom
had been hung from ceilings and tortured for months — in a raid Sunday
on an al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] hideout north of Baghdad, the U.S. military
said.

Stark
choice for Guantánamo detainee: stay in jail or face torture in home
country --London man cleared for release after four years --Lawyers
demand that he be able to join family in UK 28 May 2007 The government
was under pressure last night to allow a London man held in Guantánamo
Bay for four years to return to Britain after the US cleared him for
release from the notorious prison. Jamil el-Banna was detained by the
US in 2002 after Britain sent the CIA false information about him.
He had also failed to accept an MI5 offer to turn informant. If refused
entry to Britain, Mr Banna could be returned to face torture in his
native Jordan, from where he fled to Britain in 1994 after alleging
ill treatment.

Senate
Moves to Expand Detainee Rights
26 May 2007 Senate Democrats are backing a bill that would grant new
rights to terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including access
to a lawyer regardless of whether the prisoners are put on trial.

UK
police set for war-time powers 28 May 2007 In his final weeks
as British Prime Minister, Tony Blair looks set to push through a new
anti[pro]-terrorism law that would give police "war-time powers" to
stop and question people. Mr Blair, due to resign on June 27 after a
decade in office, wrote in an article in The Sunday Times that
his Government planned to publish new anti-terrorism proposals "within
the next few weeks".

UK
Labour wants tougher laws for terrorism suspects 28 May 2007
Tony Blair said his government wanted new anti[pro]-terrorism laws as
he accused the courts and Parliament of wrongly stressing the rights
of suspects over national security. Writing in The Sunday Times,
the Prime Minister argued
that the disappearance last week of three terrorist suspects under a
form of house arrest resulted from British society's mixed-up priorities
rather than from government mistakes.

Shackled
in war on terror
By Tony Blair 27 May 2007 Within the next few weeks we will publish
new proposals on anti-terror laws... As for British nationals who pose
a threat to us, we need to be able to monitor them carefully and limit
their activities... Their right to traditional civil liberties comes
first. I believe this is a dangerous misjudgment. This extremism, operating
the world over, is not like anything we have faced before. It needs
to be confronted with every means at our disposal.

Group:
Terrorism not focus of Homeland Security 27 May 2007 Claims
of terrorism represented less than 0.01 percent of charges filed in
recent years in immigration courts by the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, according to a report issued Sunday by an independent research
group. This comes despite the fact the Bush
regime has repeatedly asserted that fighting terrorism is the central
mission of DHS. The Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse
said it analyzed millions of previously undisclosed records obtained
from the immigration courts under the Freedom of Information Act.

Ala.
terror Web site angers activists 27 May 2007 The Alabama Department
of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that included
gay rights and anti-war organizations in a list of groups that could
include terrorists. The Web site identified different types of terrorists,
and included a list of groups it believed could spawn
terrorists. [OMFG! No group has spawned more terrorists
than the GOP - Bush's name needs to go at the top of the list!]

Accused
rapist claimed to be CIA
26 May 2007 An accused rapist's ex-fiancee testified in his trial in
Philadelphia that he claimed to be a CIA agent and talked to his gun.
Jeffrey Marsalis said he had gone through astronaut training so he would
be employable once he was through with being a CIA assassin.

Why
the US is losing its war on cocaine --America has spent billions
battling the drug industry in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. And the result?
Production as high as ever, street prices at a low, and the governments
of the region in open revolt. Hugh O'Shaughnessy reports from La Paz,
Bolivia 27 May 2007 Last week, Professor Paul Hunt of Essex University,
the UN Special Rapporteur on Health, speaking in Ecuador said: "There
is credible, reliable evidence that the aerial spraying of glyphosate
along the Colombia-Ecuador border damages the health of people living
in Ecuador... Military helicopters sometimes accompany the aerial spraying
and the entire experience can be terrifying, especially for children."
If this continues the Ecuadoreans have threatened
to shoot the offending aircraft down. [Awesome! That is
exactly what should be happening, all over the world.]

Protesters
Barred From Cheney's West Point Speech 26 May 2007 A federal
appeals court on Friday denied an organization permission to stage an
antiwar demonstration on Saturday on the grounds of the United States
Military Academy at West Point, where Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney
is to deliver the commencement address. [Why do people ask the government
and police for *permission* to protest? It's insane.]

Edwards
assails Bush, GOP rivals 25 May 2007 Democratic presidential
contender John Edwards argued on Thursday that President [sic] Bush
has made the nation less safe and the Republican candidates are trying
to become "a bigger, badder George Bush."

Pharma-terrorists
given license to kill by Bush regime:Medical
experiments to be done without patients' consent 27 May 2007
The federal government is undertaking the most ambitious set of studies
ever mounted under a controversial arrangement that allows researchers
to conduct medical experiments without first getting patients' permission.
The $50 million, five-year 'project,' which will involve more than 20,000
patients in 11 sites in the United States and Canada, is designed to
improve treatment [the profit margin for the corpora-terrorists] after
car accidents, shootings, cardiac arrest and other emergencies... George
J. Annas, a Boston University bioethicist, said "I don't think we should
use people like this." Annas was particularly disturbed that children
as young as 15 might be included in the research. [Bush's
mentors, the Nazis, carried out such experiments on prisoners in concentration
camps! Notice that this news tidbit broke in the middle of a holiday
weekend, when no one is paying attention! Please forward this news item
to your media lists.]

A
Letter from Michael Moore: 'Sicko' is Socko in Cannes! 23 May
2007 At the press screening for "Sicko," the Wall Street Journal reported
that hardened reporters and critics wept. Even those who have been harsh
to me in the past, or who have not agreed with my politics, were moved...
The New York Post reported Sunday that the Bush administration, in addition
to going after me for filming scenes in or near Cuba, may now go after
the 9/11 rescue workers I took with me to get the medical care they
were denied by our own government... We've also received word that the
HMO and pharmaceutical industries are gearing up to fight "Sicko."

Court:
Menu Foods harassed pet owners 26 May 2007 The pet food company
[corpora-terrorists, Menu Foods] that recalled 60 million cans of contaminated
dog and cat food repeatedly made harassing phone calls to pet owners
who had lawyers and said they didn't want to talk, even after a judge
ordered the firm to leave them alone, court records show.

Md.
probes high gas prices --Comptroller assails prices oil firms
charge service stations 26 May 2007 State Comptroller Peter Franchot
said yesterday that he is launching a probe into high gas prices and
wants answers from oil companies - particularly why the price can range
10 or 20 cents a gallon between nearby stations selling the same brand.

MTA
approves steep hikes for bus, rail fares --The cost of a
day pass will double by 2009. Transit officials reject mayor's compromise.
25 May 2007 Los Angeles County transit leaders Thursday approved
the first across-the-board fare increase in more than a decade, despite
emotional testimony from hundreds of bus riders who said they could
not afford steep price hikes... The protests were tinged with charges
of racism on the part of the MTA board because the vast majority of
riders are Latino and black.

Bird
flu hits ninth province in Vietnam
28 May 2007 Bird flu has spread to another province in northern Vietnam
and now nine cities and provinces have been struck by the deadly virus
in less than a month, the Agriculture Ministry said.

US
clash with G8 partners looms over climate issues 27 May 2007
The prospect looms of a major clash between the United States and its
G8 partners over global warming, with Washington's view threatening
to block agreement at next month's summit of the leading industrial
nations.

*****

U.S.
show of force in Gulf alarming: Afghan paper
26 May 2007 A U.S. navy show of force on Iran's doorstep is "greatly
alarming" for the region and the United States risked a bloody quagmire
if it invaded Iran, a state[as opposed to corporate]-run Afghan newspaper
said on Saturday. A large flotilla of U.S. ships entered the Gulf on
Wednesday in a dramatic show of military muscle, adding to pressure
on Iran.

Iran
says it has uncovered Western spy networks
26 May 2007 Iran has uncovered spy networks on its territory organized
by occupying forces in Iraq and Iraqi groups, the Intelligence Ministry
said in a statement published on Saturday. [See: Bush
Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran
22 May 2007 The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount
a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current
and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter
on ABCNews.com. The sources... say President [sic] Bush has signed a
"nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA
plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda,
disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international
financial transactions.]

Iraq
contractor sentenced for child porn 25 May 2007 A U.S. contractor
who worked at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was sentenced
to more than three years in prison Friday for possessing child pornography
that he obtained using the prison's computer network. Ahmed Hasan Khan,
of Woodbridge, had been working at Abu Ghraib for contractor L-3 Communications
Holdings Inc. in November 2005 when a network administrator at the prison
saw that Khan had been visiting suspicious sites. It is not clear exactly
what kind of work Khan was doing at Abu Ghraib. Court records indicate
he held a security clearance that was revoked after the investigation.
[See: 'I
saw ___ fucking a kid...'Details of
Bush's child-raping terrorists at Abu Ghraib prison (Graphic) Source: The "Taguba Report" On Treatment Of Abu Ghraib
Prisoners In Iraq, statement by Kasim Mehaddi Hilas, Detainee #151108,
1300/18 Jan 04, as published by The Washington Post.]

U.S.
violates international law with military tribunals, terror laws: U.N.
expert 26 May 2007 The United States apparently violated international
law in its military tribunals by using coercion to extract confessions
and writing counter-terrorism laws that restrict immigration on questionable
grounds, a U.N. investigator said on Friday. Martin Scheinin of Finland,
a U.N. rapporteur on rights in countering terrorism, said reports that
information was obtained from terror suspects using "enhanced interrogation
techniques" amounted to a form of torture or inhumane treatment
that is illegal under international law, particularly the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights treaty the United States signed.

"Enhanced
Interrogation Techniques" By Andrew Sullivan 25 May 2007 A reader
writes: "...[T]he hideous term: "enhanced interrogation techniques.'
I'm not sure where exactly this came from..." Well, "enhanced interrogation
techniques" is a fairly decent English translation of the Gestapo euphemism
"verschaerfte Vernehmung" which was the code word for torture
in the Third Reich. Look it up.

Bush
warned about dangers of trying to stabilise Iraq 27 May 2007
US intelligence analysts predicted, in two papers widely circulated
before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that al-Qaeda would see US military
action as an opportunity to increase its operations and that Iran would
try to shape the post-Saddam Hussein era in Iraq. The US Government's
top analysts also said that establishing a stable democracy in Iraq
would be a long and turbulent challenge.

Report:
Intelligence predicted most problems in Iraq 25 May 2007 Before
the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, U.S. intelligence predicted
many of the current challenges there, according to a Senate Intelligence
Committee investigation report released Friday. Those predicted -- and
realized -- problems included an increase in al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] operations,
sectarian violence within Iraq and Iran's efforts to shape Iraq's future
after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Bush
signs $100 billion Iraq war funding bill 25 May 2007 U.S. President
[sic] George W. Bush signed a bill on Friday providing $100 billion
to pay for the Iraq war but congressional Democrats who failed to impose
a troop withdrawal deadline said their fight was far from over.

White
House plays down report of Iraq troop cut 26 May 2007 The White
House on Saturday played down a newspaper report that the Bush administration
was weighing a scenario for possibly sharp cuts in U.S. troop levels
in Iraq next year. The New York Times, citing unnamed senior U.S. officials,
reported
the administration was developing concepts in which U.S. combat forces
would be reduced to around 100,000 by the middle of the 2008 presidential
election year from close to 150,000 now.

White
House Is Said to Debate '08 Cut in Iraq Troops by 50%[Yeah,
as the 'elections' approach, look for gas prices to be cut by 50%, too.]
26 May 2007 The Bush dictatorship is developing what are described as
concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half
next year, according to senior administration officials in the midst
of the internal debate. The concepts call for a reduction in forces
that could lower troop levels by the midst of the 2008 presidential
election' to roughly 100,000, from
about 146,000, the latest available
figure, which the military reported on May 1.

Separate
attacks kill 8 U.S. soldiers in Iraq --Military says American
troops were killed in 5 attacks over 4 days 26 May 2007 Eight more
U.S. soldiers have been killed in five attacks in different areas of
Iraq over the past four days, the U.S. military said on Saturday. In
the worst attack, three soldiers were killed and two were wounded while
on patrol in Salahaddin province on Saturday.

Nato
soldier killed in Afghanistan 26 May 2007 A Nato soldier was
killed and four wounded during an operation in southern Afghanistan
early today, while US-led occupation and Afghan forces detained a Taliban
commander and two suspected Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] militants in the east,
officials said.

Secret
memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal 26 May 2007 A
senior legal official who secretly warned the government of Israel after
the Six Day War of 1967 that it would be illegal to build Jewish settlements
in the occupied Palestinian territories has said, for the first time,
that he still believes that he was right. The declaration by Theodor
Meron, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal adviser at the time and
today one of the world's leading international jurists, is a serious
blow to Israel's persistent argument that the settlements do not violate
international law... The legal opinion, a copy of which has been obtained
by The Independent, was marked "Top Secret" and "Extremely Urgent" and
reached the unequivocal conclusion, in the words of its author's summary,
"that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes
the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

US
sends arms to Lebanese troops as militants vow to fight to death
26 May 2007 The United States has sent planeloads of arms and ammunition
for the Lebanese army, as tension grows around the besieged refugee
camp in the north of the country. The weapons were welcomed by members
of the Lebanese government, who said they wanted the army equipped "to
the teeth" in the face of threats of renewed violence. US military aircraft
flew in yesterday, with more likely to follow today, as a truce held
around the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, following
gun battles overnight and throughout yesterday morning.

Army
given 'carte blanche' to enter camp, kill militants 26 May 2007
The Lebanese army has carte blanche to do whatever it deems necessary
to end its bloody standoff with Islamic fundamentalists, a senior Lebanese
cabinet minister said Friday, including forcibly entering the Nahr al-Bared
refugee camp in violation of a decades-old agreement with the
Palestinians.

Pentagon
issues blunt warning to China
--Report says China's military likely to add to Beijing-Washington
strains 26 May 2007 The Pentagon is warning China in blunt language
that despite Beijing’s massive military buildup, it lacks the power
for a successful attack against rival Taiwan.

Study:
Sarin at root of Gulf War syndrome 25 May 2007 As benefits administrators,
officials and politicians argue the worthiness of studies on Gulf War
syndrome, researchers say they have no doubts that they’ve found the
root of the problem. Sarin gas.

Inquiry
widens into Justice Department hiring --The move follows
testimony by a former Gonzales aide that she had considered politics
in screening applicants. 25 May 2007 The Justice Department has
broadened an internal investigation into whether aides to Atty. Gen.
Alberto R. Gonzales improperly took into account political considerations
in hiring employees, officials familiar with the probe said Thursday.
The expanded inquiry, conducted by the department's inspector general
and its Office of Professional Responsibility, comes after testimony
Wednesday by former Gonzales aide Monica M. Goodling. She told a House
committee that she had considered party affiliation in screening applicants
to become immigration judges.

DOJ
Made Immigration Judgeships --Political Internal probe examines
whether Monica Goodling and other officials broke law by bypassing hiring
procedures 28 May 2007 The authority used to bypass the competitive
hiring process would be employed again and again during the last year
of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s tenure and continue when Alberto
Gonzales succeeded him in 2005. And according to the immigration court’s
former administrator, it also allowed top political aides at Justice,
including former Gonzales chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson and former
White House liaison Monica Goodling, to fast-track candidates of their
choosing — including a number of lawyers with no immigration law experience
but strong ties to the Republican Party or President [sic] George W.
Bush’s election campaigns.

Fewer
candidates apply for positions as U.S. attorneys 25 May 2007
The Bush administration's decision to fire nine U.S. attorneys last
year has created a new problem for the White House: The controversy
appears to be discouraging applications for some of the 22 prosecutor
posts that President [sic] Bush needs to fill. Of the nation's 93 U.S.
attorneys, 22 are serving without Senate confirmation as interim
or acting prosecutors.

Special
Prosecutor Seeks 30 to 37 Months in Prison for Libby 26 May
2007 Former top Bush administration aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby should
spend 30 to 37 months in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation,
Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald contended in court documents filed
yesterday. Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President [sic] Cheney,
has shown no remorse for lying to investigators and "about virtually
everything that mattered" in the probe of who disclosed the identity
of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame to the media in 2003, Fitzgerald
wrote.

Bush
In Line of Fire[What a shame!] 24 May 2007 An outdoor
news conference in perfect spring weather, with birds chirping loudly
in the magnolia trees, is not without its hazards. As President [sic]
Bush took a question Thursday in the White House Rose Garden about scandals
involving his Attorney General, he remarked, "I've got confidence in
Al Gonzales doin' the job." Simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead
and left a splash on the pResident's sleeve, which Bush tried several
times to wipe off.

Former
Bush Aide Card Is Booed at UMass
25 May 2007 President [sic] Bush's former chief of staff Andrew Card
was loudly booed by hundreds of students and faculty members as he rose
to accept an honorary degree at the University of Massachusetts on Friday.
The boos and catcalls - including those from faculty members who
stood onstage with Card - drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour's remarks
as she awarded the honorary doctorate in public service. [Awesome!]

UMass
faculty, students protest Card's honorary doctorate 25 May 2007
Hundreds of students and faculty erupted in a chorus of boos Friday
when President [sic] Bush's former chief of staff Andrew Card rose to
accept his honorary doctorate in public service at the University of
Massachusetts, blaming him in part for the Iraq war.

NY
pressed to review deaths of Ground Zero workers 25 May 2007
Activists, including U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, put
fresh pressure on New York City on Friday to compensate Ground Zero
workers following the first confirmed death from inhaling the dust of
the World Trade Center wreckage.

FEMA
Pricing of Trailers Called Unfair And Wasteful 26 May 2007 The
Federal Emergency Management Agency has sold trailers to victims of
the 2005 hurricanes at prices that range from $1 to $20,000, under inconsistent
policies that prompted a temporary ban on all trailer sales, according
to a new government report. Department of Homeland Security Inspector
General Richard L. Skinner warned that uneven sales practices in Texas,
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were unfair to some victims of hurricanes
Katrina and Rita and wasted taxpayer dollars.

Fed
up station owner shuts off gas pumps
25 May 2007 Motorists pulled in to Harvey Pollack's gas station, honked
and gave him a thumbs-up -- because he wasn't selling any fuel. The
owner of Towne Market Mobil in this suburb north of Milwaukee (MeQuon)
shut down his pumps for 24 hours, hoping to start a movement aimed at
convincing oil companies to lower their prices.

Mild
Strain of Human Bird Flu in Britain 25 May 2007 Four people
have tested positive for a mild strain of bird flu, British authorities
said Friday. The cases - which are not the feared H5N1 strain, but the
less dangerous H7N2 subtype - were reported after poultry died at a
small farm in north Wales.

US
rejects all proposals on climate change --Embarrassment for
Blair as G8 draft covered in red ink --Little hope of any deal at summit
in two weeks 26 May 2007 The US has rejected any prospect of a deal
on climate change at the G8 summit in Germany next month, according
to a leaked document. Despite Tony Blair's declaration on Thursday that
Washington would sign up to "at least the beginnings" of action to cut
carbon emissions, a note attached to a draft document circulated by
Germany says the US is "fundamentally opposed" to the proposals.

*****

Just
Say No:US
general wants West to buy Afghan drug crop to curb Taleban 24
May 2007 Western nations should club together to buy Afghanistan’s drug
crop and provide incentives to farmers to grow wheat instead, thereby
starving the Taleban of funds, a US general said. General William Hobbins,
who is advising on the Nato-led assault on Taleban strongholds in Afghanistan,
said cash from [US] heroin-producing poppies were paying for smuggled
arms.

Iran
'accused of attacks in Iraq to bolster US strategy' 25 May 2007
The Bush administration may be highlighting accusations that the Iranian
government is behind attacks in Iraq in order to strengthen its hand
in preparing for military strikes on Iran, according to a leading British
think-tank. In a report sifting the evidence produced by US authorities
against Iran, the independent think-tank Basic cast doubt on the strength
of the intelligence, saying that proved links between the Tehran regime
and militia inside Iraq remained "sketchy".
Given the close ties between Shia Muslim Iran and Iraq, which has a
dominant Shia population in the south, the report warned of the dangers
of conflating "legitimate acts of foreign relations and cross-border
movements of people" with the alleged Iranian involvement in violence.

U.S.
navy begins war games on Iran's doorstep 24 May 2007 The U.S.
navy began war games on Iran's doorstep on Thursday, navy officials
said, a day after a large flotilla of U.S. ships entered the Gulf in
a dramatic daytime show of military muscle.

Bush
predicts bloody summer in Iraq 25 May 2007 President [sic] Bush
yesterday predicted "heavy fighting" this summer in what he acknowledged
was an unpopular war in Iraq, but said it would be "catastrophic" for
the United States to leave before the country is stable.

Analysts
warned White House of Iraq invasion dangers 25 May 2007 US intelligence
agencies warned senior members of the Bush administration in early 2003
that invading Iraq could create instability that would give Iran and
al-Qa'ida [al-CIAduh] new opportunities to expand their influence, according
to a coming Senate report. Officials familiar with the Senate Intelligence
Committee investigation also say analysts warned against a sustained
US presence, which could increase extremist recruiting.

U.S.
Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session 24 May 2007
Question: On the Motion (Motion to Concur in House Amdt. to Senate Amdt
to H.R.2206)
Measure Title: Making emergency supplemental appropriations and additional
supplemental appropriations for agricultural and other emergency assistance
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.

The
entire government has failed us on Iraq --For the president,
and the majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen
and Senators of either party—there is only blame for this shameful,
and bi-partisan, betrayal By Keith Olbermann 24 May 2007 A President,
Mr. Bush, uses the carte blanche he has already, not to manipulate an
overlap of arriving and departing Brigades into a 'second surge,' but
to say in unequivocal terms that if it takes every last dime of the
monies already allocated, if it takes reneging
on government contracts with Halliburton, he will make sure
the troops are safe—even if the only safety to be found, is in getting
them the hell out of there. Well, any true President would have done
that, Sir. You instead, used our troops as political pawns, then blamed
the Democrats when you did so... "We seem to be very near the bleak
choice between war and shame," Winston Churchill wrote to Lord
Moyne in the days after the British signed the Munich accords with Germany
in 1938. "My feeling is that we shall choose shame, and then have
war thrown in, a little later…" That’s what this is for the Democrats,
isn’t it? Their "Neville Chamberlain moment" before the Second
World War.

Democratic
Party completes its capitulation on Iraq
By Barry Grey 24 May 2007 The Democratic congressional leadership on
Tuesday formally accepted a supplemental war-funding bill that abandons
any timelines for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. The bill further
gives President [sic] Bush the power to waive economic penalties should
the Iraqi government fail to meet a series of "benchmarks"
for stabilizing the country and opening up
its oil resources to exploitation by American oil conglomerates.
The agreement is a full and abject capitulation by the Democratic Party
to the Bush administration.

Kucinich
claims war masks the real objective: Iraqi oil 24 May 2007 It's
all about Iraq's oil - rich, abundant, and coveted by multinational
companies waiting to line their deep pockets. Or so said Rep. Dennis
Kucinich Wednesday in an unusual hourlong address on the House floor.
He laid out his contention that the White House and Democratic-led Congress
are helping oil companies grab a stake in Iraq's vast oil fields while
claiming to be interested merely in winding down the Iraq war.

Kucinich:
Congress Endorses Blackmail of Iraq
24 May 2007 Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) hosted a news conference...
to discuss... passage of the Iraqi "Hydrocarbon Act." The
Hydrocarbon Act forces the Iraqis to privatize their oil. "The
Democrats will have an opportunity today to vote in support of, or against,
the blackmail of Iraq. A vote for the benchmarks is a vote to demand
the privatization of Iraqi oil... The benchmarks in today’s war supplemental
force the Iraqis to privatize their oil industry by demanding passage
of the Iraqi "Hydrocarbon Act." ...This administration has
misled Congress into thinking that pending Iraqi legislation before
their Parliament is about fair distribution of oil revenues. In fact,
except for three scant lines, the entire 33-page hydrocarbon law creates
a structure to facilitate the privatization of Iraq’s oil. The truth
is that the "Hydrocarbon Act" will open Iraq’s oil reserves
to foreign investors, giving them, and not the Iraqi people, the ability
to develop the majority of Iraq’s 80 known oil fields."

1
in 8 Iraqis dies before fifth birthday --In Baghdad's poorest
area, hospital lacks basic supplies, staff 23 May 2007 The mortality
rate among Iraqi children younger than 5 rose 150 percent between 1990
and 2005, according to a report released this month by the U.S. humanitarian
aid group Save the Children. In its most startling terms, the group
estimates that 1 in 8 never makes it to his or her fifth birthday.

Morgue
Data Show Increase In Sectarian Killings in Iraq 24 May 2007
More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed
to curtail [foment] sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of
Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising
again. From the beginning of May until Tuesday, 321 unidentified corpses,
many dumped and showing signs of torture and
execution, have been found across the Iraqi capital, according
to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Turkish
warplanes violate Iraq's northern airspace 25 May 2007 A military
source from Iraq's Kurdistan region said on Thursday two Turkish warplanes
violated Iraqi northern Kurdistan airspace near the borders with Turkey.
"Two Turkish warplanes violated today the Kurdistan region airspace
for a distance of ten kilometers inside the Iraqi territories," the
source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency
Voices of Iraq (VOI).

21
killed in Fallujah car bomb attack 24 May 2007 At least 21 people
were killed and 50 wounded today when a parked car bomb hit a funeral
procession for a man who worked against al Qaida in Iraq, police and
medical officials said. The attack occurred about 9am local time in
Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

AP:
Marines fail to get gear to troops 25 May 2007 The system for
delivering badly needed gear to Marines in Iraq has failed to meet many
urgent requests for equipment from troops in the field, according to
an internal document obtained by The Associated Press.

Lawsuit
in outsourced U.S. war is moved out of court
25 May 2007 After years of high-stakes legal wrangling, a lawsuit stemming
from the gruesome deaths of four U.S. contractors in Iraq is moving
behind closed doors in an action seen as an important precedent for
the booming private security industry. The suit, for wrongful death
and fraud, was filed in January 2005 against Blackwater Security Consulting,
one of scores of companies now fielding close to 130,000 mercenaries
who work alongside the U.S. military in Iraq.

Army
and Air Force Deny Formal Links to Christian Event
25 May 2007 After complaints by a government watchdog group, the Air
Force and the Army partially distanced themselves yesterday from a three-day
evangelical Christian event this weekend at a Georgia theme park. The
Memorial Day weekend "Salute to the Troops" celebration at Stone Mountain
Park is sponsored by Task Force Patriot USA, a private group that says
its purpose is "sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all
U.S. military, military veterans and families," and whose Web site says
"Christ is our Commander-in-Chief."

McClatchy's
D.C. Bureau Claims It's Barred From Defense Secretary Plane
23 May 2007 Staffers at McClatchy's Washington, D.C., Bureau -- one
of the few major news outlets skeptical of intelligence reports during
the run-up to the war in Iraq -- claims it is now being punished for
that coverage. Bureau Chief John Walcott and current and former McClatchy
Pentagon correspondents say they have not been allowed on the Defense
Secretary's plane for at least three years, claiming the news company
is being retaliated against for its reporting.

A
drive for global domination has put us in greater danger --Moral
authority, which is our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly
put at risk by this wilful president By Al Gore 24 May 2007 The
pursuit of "dominance" in foreign policy led the Bush administration
to ignore the UN, to do serious damage to our most important alliances,
to violate international law, and to cultivate the hatred and contempt
of many in the rest of the world. The seductive appeal of exercising
unconstrained unilateral power led this president to interpret his powers
under the constitution in a way that brought to life the worst nightmare
of the founders. Any policy based on domination of the rest of the world
not only creates enemies for the US and recruits for al-Qaida, but also
undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating
terrorists who wish to harm and intimidate America... It is our moral
authority that has been recklessly put at risk by the cheap calculations
of this wilful president [sic].

Poll
Shows View of Iraq War Is Most Negative Since Start 25 May 2007
Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time
since the invasion more than four years ago, according to the latest
New York Times/CBS News poll. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the
United States should have stayed out of Iraq and 76 percent say things
are going badly there, including 47 percent who say things are going
very badly, the poll found.

Canadian
killed in major assault on Taliban 25 May 2007 A Canadian soldier
was killed and another was wounded on Friday in the explosion of an
improvised bomb during Operation Hoover in Afghanistan. The Canadian
troops had earlier launched their most ambitious assault on the Taliban
in nearly two months.

Hamas
cabinet ministers seized by Israel troops 25 May 2007 Israeli
forces seized a Palestinian cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas officials
in overnight West Bank sweeps designed to intensify pressure on the
Islamic faction. As Palestinian ministers outside Hamas condemned the
detentions, the faction itself defiantly claimed it would use "any means"
to free the detained officials and fired more Qassam rockets into Israel.

Poland,
U.S. move closer on missile shield deal 24 May 2007 Poland and
the United States moved closer to reaching an agreement to build an
anti-missile shield on Polish soil, officials of both countries said
after a first round of negotiations on Thursday.

U.S.
Senate committee pushes to restore basic right for detainees like Khadr
23 May 2007Eliminating
the right of terrorism suspects like Canadian Omar Khadr to challenge
their detentions in U.S. courts is a "profound mistake" rivalling the
internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, Senator
Patrick Leahy said Tuesday. Leahy, chairman of the Senate judiciary
committee, held a hearing to push for reinstating habeas corpus, a basic
constitutional guarantee of access to a U.S. federal court.

We
may declare an emergency to quit rights act, says Reid 25 May
2007 Police would be able to continue questioning terrorist suspects
after they had been charged under proposals to be published within weeks
by John Reid. After the latest fiasco in which three terror suspects
went on the run after breaching their control orders, the Home Secretary
said yesterday that the Government would consider declaring that there
was an emergency threat to the country, allowing it to opt out of human
rights legislation, if all other options failed.

Reid
warning to judges over control orders
--Home secretary ready to invoke state of emergency --Move
to stiffen law would suspend human rights act 25 May 2007 The home
secretary, John Reid, made clear yesterday he is prepared to declare
a "state of emergency" to suspend key parts of the human rights convention
if the law lords do not overturn a series of judgments that have weakened
the anti[pro]-terrorist control order regime.

Three
terror suspects 'are on the run' [let loose so that Reid could
invoked the clampdown measures] 24 May 2007 Two brothers of a man convicted
of involvement in the fertiliser bomb plot have absconded from a control
order imposed on them under terrorism laws. Scotland Yard said they
are anxious to trace Lamine Adam, 26, and Ibrahim Adam, 20, and a third
man, Cerie Bullivant, 24, who went missing this week.

Bush
makes power grab
By Jerome Corsi 23 May 2007 President [sic] Bush, without so much as
issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted
near dictatorial powers to the office
of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the
president. The "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential
Directive," with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security
Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential
Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National
Continuity Coordinator.

Groups
File Legal Papers Renewing Call For Release of NSA Wiretap Records
--Justice Department Must Stop Covering Up Program Now Known to Be
Illegal, Groups Tell Court (ACLU) 23 May 2007 The American Civil
Liberties Union, the National Security Archive and the Electronic Privacy
Information Center today filed new legal papers urging a federal judge
to compel the Justice Department to release documents pertaining to
the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program. The
move comes after former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified
that the Justice Department determined in March 2004 that the NSA program
was unlawful.

Arson
attacks ruled terrorism 24 May 2007 Ruling that arson attacks
on a police office, an SUV dealership and a tree farm were acts of terrorism,
a federal judge on Wednesday imposed a 13-year prison term on Stanislas
Gregory Meyerhoff, the first of 10 defendants to be sentenced in the
nation's largest-ever investigation of radical underground environmental
activists.

Dust
victim is added to 9/11 toll 24 May 2007 A US woman has been
added to the list of those killed in the attack on the World Trade Center,
after dying from dust generated by the towers' collapse. New York's
chief medical examiner said he was certain the dust contributed to Felicia
Dunn-Jones' death from a rare lung disease five months after 9/11. The
toxic cloud contained particles of asbestos, lead, glass, and cement.

*****

US
warns Iran as armada enters Gulf 24 May 2007 The US today threatened
new UN sanctions to punish Iran's nuclear drive as it ratcheted up tensions
with the biggest display of naval power in the Gulf in years. A bristling
US armada led by two aircraft carriers steamed into waters near Iran
for exercises, hours before UN watchdogs said Iran was expanding its
uranium enrichment program in defiance of international sanctions.

Nine
U.S. warships in Gulf for show of force[for Exxon Mobil]
23 May 2007 The largest daytime assembly of U.S. warships in the Gulf
since the 2003 Iraq war prepared on Wednesday to hold drills off Iran's
coast in a major U.S. show of force that unnerved
oil markets. U.S. Navy officials said Iran was not notified
of plans to sail nine ships, including two aircraft carriers, through
the Straits of Hormuz, a narrow channel in international waters off
Iran's coast and a major artery for global oil
shipments.

6
Navy Commanders Sacked in 6 Weeks By Noah Shachtman 22 May 2007
For the sixth time in as many weeks, the lead officer of a Navy ship
has been suddenly relieved of command, DANGER ROOM pal Andy Scutro reports
for Navy Times.

Pentagon
Studies Long-Term Commitment in Iraq (Morning Edition) 21 May
2007 The White House and Pentagon are under increasing pressure from
Congress and the public to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq. But
the Pentagon is considering maintaining a core group of forces in Iraq,
possibly for decades.

CBP
recruiting volunteers to train Iraqi border guards 23 May 2007
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham is...
seeking veteran U.S. Border Patrol agents and CBP officers willing to
train Iraqis to guard their borders.
In a message to all Border Patrol agents and CBP officers, Mr. Basham
said the agency wants to "support the reconstruction [destruction] efforts
in Iraq" by deploying volunteers as temporary advisers to help the U.S.-backed
Iraqi government seal its border against 'insurgents.' [Can the US
seal its *own* borders?! LOL!!]

Occupation
forces bombard citizens' houses and orchards in Taji 22 May
2007 (HAQ) Our correspondent in al-Taji area reported that the American
occupation forces continue, for the seventh day, to intensively target
citizens’ houses and orchards in Shata’ al-Tajiyat, Thera’a Digla, and
areas that surround the occupation forces base in Taji.

Car
loaded with chlorine explodes in Ramadi 21 May 2007 (HAQ) A
[US] car bomb loaded with chlorine gas exploded in the western city
of Ramadi in the al-Zenkoreh area led to the killing of number of civilians
and wounded dozens.

Iraqis
say body found of U.S. soldier 23 May 2007 Iraqi police dragged
a body from the Euphrates River on Wednesday and said it was one of
three American soldiers abducted in an ambush claimed by al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh].
The U.S. military has yet to identify the victim and pressed ahead with
its search through sweltering flatlands south of Baghdad.

Two
American soldiers found beheaded in al-Mahmoudia 19 May 2007
(HAQ) After six days of continuous searching for three captured soldiers,
American occupation forces found today two bodies with gotten head cut
--two of the three soldiers captured. The third soldier's fate is unknown.
Police sources in the city of Mahmoudia told our correspondent that
the two bodies, which were found near one of their orchards in the city,
appeared to have severe torture signs and with gotten head cut.

Iran
Defies UN Over Nuclear Programme 23 May 2007 Iran has defied
international demands to scrap its uranium enrichment programme and
has instead expanded its activities, the UN's nuclear watchdog has revealed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had defied a
60-day deadline set by the UN Security Council when it imposed further
sanctions on March 24.

Edwards:
'War on Terror' Has Hurt U.S. 23 May 2007 Democrat John Edwards
Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a "global war on
terror," calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush
administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened
terrorists. In a defense policy speech to the Council on Foreign Relations,
Edwards called the war on terror a "bumper sticker" slogan
Bush had used to justify everything from abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison
to the invasion of Iraq.

Terror
war 'divisive'
24 May 2007 Fears stoked by the "war on terror" are dividing the world,
Amnesty International said yesterday, attacking human rights abuses
from China to Darfur, Russia and the Middle East. Human rights are flouted
in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the front line of the US-led crackdown on
extremism. "The politics of fear is fuelling a downward spiral of human
rights abuse in which no right is sacrosanct and no person safe," said
Amnesty chief Irene Kahn. "The 'war on terror' and the war in Iraq,
with their catalogue of human rights abuses, have created deep divisions
that cast a shadow on international relations." Amnesty says 400 detainees
from more than 30 countries are still in the US detention camp at Guantanamo
Bay, which it calls "the public symbol of the injustices in the 'war
on terror"'.

Shedding
light on CIA mystery flights 23 May 2007 "This World: Mystery
Flights" (BBC Two) pieces together the jigsaw of "extraordinary rendition",
the alleged illegal CIA transfer of terror suspects to secret prisons
in Europe. In far eastern Poland in 2002 and 2003 strange planes landed
on an old disused runway in a secluded forest - nine times. The airport
was closed but Mariola Przewlocka, the airport facilities manager, was
told to accept the planes or "heads would roll". Airport staff were
told to stay away while the passengers were unloaded out of sight. Mini-vans
with blacked-out windows drove them away to a former Soviet military
intelligence base, where it is believed the CIA has its own zone.

Tutu
compares horror of Guantanamo to apartheid era 23 May 2007 Archbishop
Desmond Tutu has sent a message of hope to supporters of Omar Deghayes,
the Brighton man held in Guantanamo Bay. Speaking to The Argus during
a visit to Sussex, the clergyman and human rights campaigner compared
those in the US prison in Cuba to people detained in South Africa during
the apartheid era.

Baltimore
council nixes 'martial law' 23 May 2007 Baltimore lawmakers
have rejected a proposal to allow the mayor to lock down streets and
close businesses in high-crime zones, the most recent attempt to curb
violence the city. The proposal, which was introduced by City Council
member Robert W. Curran (D) also would have granted police extended
search powers. "While I do agree that desperate times call for desperate
measures, I do not agree that trampling on citizens' civil liberties
is the answer," said council member Keifer J. Mitchell Jr., a Democrat
running for mayor. "This bill gives the mayor tremendous power, tantamount
to declaring martial law, and I have grave reservations about that,"
said

Double
Secret Probation --Police fork over secret RNC documents
that make it plain there's plenty more By Sean Gardiner 22 May 2007
The NYPD's RNC spying controversy can't come in from the cold just yet.
Some 600 pages of previously secret police records at the center of
a months-long legal tug-of-war between the city and the New York Civil
Liberties Union were finally made public last week, but now the Voice
has learned that the city is holding back yet another set of secret
documents regarding the police department's widespread intelligence-gathering
in anticipation of the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Germans
outraged by "scent profiling" ahead of G8 23 May 2007 Germany's
justice minister added her voice on Wednesday to outrage sweeping the
country over 'scent profiling' methods police are using for a looming
G8 summit that recall tricks by East Germany's nefarious Stasi. Hans-Christian
Stroebele, a Greens leader, said: "It's unsavory that our security
agencies are now using methods that the Stasi once practiced."

Germany
adopts Stasi scent tactic 23 May 2007 The German authorities
are compiling a database of human scents to track down possible 'violent'
protesters at the G8 summit in June. The method, once used by East Germany's
secret police, the Stasi, involves collecting scent samples in advance
from selected targets. The scents are then passed to police equipped
with sniffer dogs who can pick the individuals out amid a crowd. A spokesman
for the federal prosecutor has confirmed that samples of smell were
gathered from five people who were detained during recent police raids.
Petra Pau, a politician from the opposition Left Party, described the
move "as another step away from a democratic
state of law toward a preventive security state". "A state
that adopts the methods of the East German Stasi, robs itself of every...
legitimacy," she said in a statement.

Work
bill would create new ID database 21 May 2007 The U.S. Congress
is poised to create a set of massive new government databases that all
employers must use to investigate the immigration status of current
and future employees or face stiff penalties. The so-called Employment
Eligibility Verification System would be established as part of a bill
that senators began debating on Monday... Because anyone who fails a database check would be out of a job,
the proposed database already has drawn comparisons with the "no-fly
list" and is being criticized by civil libertarians and business groups.

Claims
of 9/11 conspiracy have suspect running scared --Former Denverite
says 9/11 work has made him a target 23 May 2007 A former Federal
Emergency Management Agency videographer [Kurt Sonnenfeld] accused of
killing his wife [The charges against Sonnenfeld were dismissed just
before trial in June 2002] in Denver is seeking political asylum in
Argentina, claiming the U.S. government wants him silenced for what
he saw in the smoldering ruins of the Twin Towers after 9/11... Sonnenfeld
said he was arrested by Interpol agents on the new Denver charges a
week after delivering a demo video of 9/11 footage to a TV producer
in Argentina. Sonnenfeld is quoted as saying, "What I saw (at 9/11)
leads me to the terrible conclusion that there was foreknowledge of
what was going to happen - the precautions that were taken to save
certain things that the authorities there considered irreplaceable or
invaluable. "For example, certain things were missing that could
only have been removed with a truck. Yet after the first plane hit one
of the towers, everything in Manhattan collapsed and no one could have
gotten near the towers to do that."

Goodling
Says She 'Crossed the Line' in Hiring Attorneys 23 May 2007
Monica Goodling, a former top Justice Department aide, said she went
too far in considering the political leanings of job candidates during
testimony Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee. "I crossed
the line of the civil service rules," said Goodling, who agreed
to testify only after being granted immunity for what she said during
her appearance.

Goodling
Denies Major Role in Dismissals 23 May 2007 The Justice Department's
former White House liaison denied Wednesday that she played a major
role in the firings of U.S. attorneys last year and blamed Deputy Attorney
General Paul McNulty for misleading Congress.

AAA
wants gas-price inquiry--Auto club asks Senate to investigate
why oil profits are soaring despite glitches 16 May 2007 AAA asked
the U.S. Senate Tuesday to investigate why oil companies are making
huge profits at a time when glitches at gas refineries have caused pump
prices to soar. "We are concerned about the number and frequency of
refinery outages this year in light of the large profits the industry
has been reporting," AAA Public Affairs Director Geoff Sundstrom told
the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, suggesting the
industry should be better able to project and meet demand.

Big
Oil buys Sacramento
--Why you're not hearing a peep from California politicians on record-high
gas prices. By Jamie Court and Judy Dugan 14 May 2007 ...[A]s gasoline
prices were breaking last year's record of $3.38 a gallon, Schwarzenegger
(R) collected a $100,000 check May 1 from Chevron, the West's
largest refiner. The company certainly had the cash on hand. Just three
days earlier, it reported a $4.7-billion first-quarter profit, up 18%
over the same period last year. The contribution brought Schwarzenegger's
take from Chevron to $665,000 (making it his 15th largest donor) since
2003, and his total political tribute from the energy industry is now
$4 million.

Fed
Up with Gas Prices? Blame the Bush Administration for Not Enforcing
Anti-Trust Laws By Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) 23 May 2007 In recent
weeks, prices at the pump have hit an all-time high... Paradoxically,
this year, rising gas prices are not being driven by increases in the
cost of oil. In fact, a barrel of oil is actually $7 cheaper than it
was this time last year. How is it possible for gas prices to reach
record highs while the price of oil remains relatively stable? We examined
this and related questions during a House Judiciary Committee Antitrust
Task Force hearing titled, "Prices at the Pump: Market Failure and the
Oil Industry."

Bush
Threatens Veto of Gas Gouging Bill 23 May 2007 President [sic]
Bush is likely to veto legislation that would create hefty fines and
criminal penalties for gasoline price-gouging, the White House said
Wednesday. The bill would create fines and criminal penalties, including
jail time, for industry executives found guilty of gouging.

House
Approves Stiff Penalties For Gas Price Gouging --Maggot
Face set to veto 23 May 2007 The House, eager to do something
about record high gasoline prices in advance of the Memorial Day weekend,
approved stiff penalties Wednesday for those found guilty of gasoline
price gouging. The bill, approved by a vote 284-141, directs the Federal
Trade Commission and Justice Department to go after oil companies, traders
or retail operators if they take "unfair advantage" or charge "unconscionably
excessive" prices for gasoline and other fuels. The White House said
President [sic] Bush would be urged to veto the legislation should it
pass Congress.

House
Roll Call: Gasoline Price Gouging 23 May 2007 The 284-141 roll
call Wednesday by which the House approved stiff penalties for those
found guilty of gasoline price gouging. A "yes" vote is a
vote to pass the bill. Voting yes were 228 Democrats and 56 Republicans.
Voting no were 1 Democrat and 140 Republicans.

Bush's
'consumer' nominee withdraws
23 May 2007 President [sic] Bush's pick [corpora-terrorist] to head
the Consumer Product Safety Commission withdrew his nomination Wednesday
amid strong opposition from some Senate Democrats. Michael Baroody is
a lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, and his critics
on Capitol Hill said he would not provide the leadership the agency
needed in order to protect consumers. Democrats also had raised questions
about a $150,000 payment that Baroody would
have received when he left the lobbying group.

Early
word on Street bonuses: upbeat --Stocks' gains, dealmaking
set to fuel growth over 2006 payouts 22 May 2007 The rich will be
getting richer. Again. Bonuses paid on Wall Street at the end of 2007
could exceed last year's totals by 10% to 15% in most areas, according
to the latest forecast released Tuesday by executive recruiting firm
Johnson Associates Inc.

Expert:
Aquatic Virus Hits 2 Great Lakes 22 May 2007 A deadly, fast-spreading
aquatic virus is reaching epidemic proportions in New York's two Great
Lakes and has already spread into the Finger Lakes region in upstate
New York, a Cornell University fisheries expert said Tuesday.

Bear
Sighting Triggers Elementary School Lockdown 23 May 2007 (Redmond,
WA) A Redmond elementary school has been locked down because someone
saw a bear near the campus. Northshore school officials said students
at Sunrise Elementary School will be kept indoors during recess periods
and P.E.

*****

Opium:
Iraq's deadly new export --Amid the [US-engendered] anarchy,
farmers begin to grow opium poppies, raising fears [and Bush's hopes]
that the country could become a major heroin supplier. 23 May 2007
Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their
fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines
of Afghanistan. Rice farmers along
the Euphrates, to the west of the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad,
have stopped cultivating rice, for which the area is famous, and are
instead planting poppies, Iraqi sources familiar with the area have
told The Independent. [Iraq - Afghanistan. Who is the common
factor? Bush, funding his war on [of] terror and his oil smuggling operations.]

Bush
Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran
22 May 2007 The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount
a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current
and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter
on ABCNews.com. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President [sic]
Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion
a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda,
disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international
financial transactions.

U.S.
mulls military funding plea from Lebanon 22 May 2007 The United
States said on Tuesday it was considering an urgent request from Lebanon
for more U.S. military aid to battle Islamist militants and warned
Syria against meddling in its neighbor's affairs. [Let
me get this straight: The US is considering giving military aid to Lebanon,
while at the same time warning Syria against 'meddling?' While we're
on the topic of 'meddling,' why doesn't the US get out of Iraq, Iran
and Afghanistan?]

More
US 'meddling:'Nine
U.S. warships enter Gulf for training 23 May 2007 Nine U.S.
military ships, including two aircraft carriers, passed through the
Straights of Hormuz on Wednesday, the largest number of U.S. military
vessels to enter the Gulf since 2003, the U.S. military said. It said
the ships were entering the area for training.

U.S.
Government Gave Airtime to Terrorists, Official Admits [Oh, besides
every time Bush holds a press conference?] 22 May 2007 Al Hurra
television, the U.S. government's $63 million-a-year
effort at public diplomacy broadcasting in the Middle East, is run by
executives and officials who cannot speak Arabic, according to a senior
official who oversees the program. That might explain why critics say
the service has recently been caught broadcasting terrorist messages,
including an hour-long tirade on the importance of anti-Jewish violence,
among other questionable pieces. "How does it happen that the terrorists
take over?" asked Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, D-N.Y., at a hearing last
Wednesday of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee he chairs. [How
does it happen that the terrorists take over? They steal the elections!
--LRP]

Useless
is as useless does:Democrats
Drop Troop Pullout Dates From Iraq Bill 22 May 2007 Congressional
DemocRATs relented today on their insistence that a war spending measure
sought by Dictator Bush also set a date for withdrawing troops from
Iraq. The decision to back down, described by senior lawmakers and aides,
was a wrenching reversal for some Democrats, who saw their election
triumph as a call to force an end to the war. [Arming
the Left: Is the time now? --by Charles Southwell 21 Oct 2003
As long as we pose no REAL threat to the powers-that-be, to what is
shaping up into [is] a dictatorship, we will continue to be ignored.
Right now, we are ignored because we present no organized power to fight
this onslaught of anti-democratic, totalitarian government that we are
up against...]

Bush
could double Iraq troops by Christmas--Little-noticed
second surge is quietly being executed 22 May 2007 The Bush
administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat
troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders
showed Monday. The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce
U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades
and extending tours of duty for troops already there. The actions could
boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to
as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving
and departing combat brigades.

At
Least 100 Iraqis Killed or Found Dead
23 May 2007 A [US] car bomb exploded Tuesday at an outdoor market in
a Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding at least 60
- the deadliest in a string of attacks that stoked 'sectarian' tension
in and around the capital.

Car
Bombing in Baghdad Market Kills 25 22 May 2007 A [US] parked
car bomb ripped through a crowded outdoor market Tuesday in a Shiite
area of southwestern Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding at least
60.

Israel
hits Gaza with more strikes, seven wounded 22 May 2007 Israel
launched more air strikes on suspected Gaza militants on Wednesday
which wounded seven people, hospital officials and residents of the
northern part of the coastal strip said. An Israeli army spokeswoman
confirmed an aircraft had fired missiles into a building used to store
munitions and that secondary explosions were observed.

U.S.
to let START nuclear treaty expire 22 May 2007 The United States
plans to let a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia expire
in 2009 and replace it with a less formal agreement that eliminates
strict verification requirements and weapons limits, a senior U.S. official
says.

Halliburton
to target $80b projects from Dubai base 23 May 2007 US oil services
firm Halliburton said yesterday it was looking for a suitable site to
build its corporate headquarters in Dubai. Halliburton is tracking about
60 projects worth $80 billion (Dh294.24 billion) across the world for
which it may compete over the next five years. The New York-listed Halliburton
plans to have a secondary listing on a Middle East stock exchange.

Govt
denies influx of 50 CIA agents 22 May 2007 Pakistan yesterday
denied a report that up to 50 US Central Intelligence Agency officials
are in the country hunting for 'Al Qaeda' chief Osama bin Laden. The
report in the Los Angeles Times at the weekend said a major hunt for
bin Laden launched by the CIA last year had unearthed no significant
leads on his whereabouts.

UN
torture panel presses Poland for details on CIA secret prisons probe
22 May 2007 The UN Committee Against Torture Monday urged Poland to
disclose details regarding a parliamentary investigation into the presence
of secret CIA prisons in the country on Monday, expressing concern that
Poland participated in running terrorist suspect prisons in the country.

White
House says bin Laden ordered Iraq plots
23 May 2007 Osama bin Laden ordered al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, to form a cell in 2005 to plot attacks outside of Iraq and
make the United States his main target, a senior U.S. official said
on Tuesday. Citing newly declassified intelligence [LOL!] , Fran
Townsend, President [sic] George W. Bush's adviser for homeland security,
said the information backs the administration's assertion that U.S.
troops must stay in Iraq for now to prevent it from becoming a "terrorist
sanctuary." Mindful of its trouble selling its war strategy to the
American public, the [lying sack of sh*t
occupying the] White House is trying to put the spotlight
on bin Laden's connections to Zarqawi, the head of Iraq's 'al Qaeda'
wing who was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006.

Liberty
Student Arrested on Bomb Charges 23 May 2007 A Liberty University
student was arrested after telling a family member he had made bombs
and planned to attend the funeral of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, authorities
said. Mark David Uhl was arrested Monday night on charges of manufacturing
an explosive device, Major Steve Hutcherson said. Campbell County Sheriff
Terry Gaddy described the five bombs as "sort of like napalm"
and about the size of soda cans. Gaddy investigators in Fauquier County
were interviewing several people who had been in an ROTC program
with Uhl, of Amissville, in high school and may have been involved
in making the bombs. One is now in the Army, he said.

Health
fear over new airport scanners
22 May 2007 New X-Ray scanners at British airports could be exposing
passengers to potentially dangerous levels of radiation, according to
one senior radiologist.

Va.
Investigator Threatens Court Fight 23 May 2007 The panel studying
last month's massacre at Virginia Tech will go to court if necessary
to get gunman Seung-Hui Cho's medical and mental health records, the
group's chairman said Tuesday.

Judge
Blocks Texas Anti-Immigrant Law --Says Dallas Suburb's Attempt
to Force Landlords to Verify Tenants' Citizenship Is Trumped By Federal
Law 22 May 2007 A federal judge blocked enforcement of an ordinance
which would have prevented apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants
in the Texas city of Farmers Branch, just a day before it would take
effect. Only the federal government can determine whether a person is
in the United States legally, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay wrote
Monday.

Save
Internet Radio! 22 May 2007 The future of Internet radio is
in immediate danger. Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically
increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15
(retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). If the increased rates remain unchanged,
the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date.
Internet radio needs your help! The Internet Radio Equality Act has
recently been introduced in both the House (H.R. 2060) and Senate (S.
1353) to save the Internet radio industry. Please call your senators
and your representative to ask them to co-sponsor the Internet Radio
Equality Act by clicking here.

Vaccine
linked to sickness 22 May 2007 (AU) Federal Health Minister
Tony Abbott and health authorities have urged parents not to panic over
reports that dozens of teenage girls have been sickened by a new cervical
cancer vaccine. In one case being investigated, a girl was left temporarily
paralysed and unable to talk after receiving the Australian-developed
Gardasil vaccine. The school will press ahead
with more vaccinations next month. Hundreds of girls in the
US have reported reactions such as temporary paralysis, fainting and
broken bones from falling over after receiving the shot.

WHO
bans vaccine, sends experts to probe child deaths in Vietnam
18 May 2007 The World Health Organization has suspended the use of a
Hepatitis B vaccine worldwide after three newborns died and another
became seriously ill in Vietnam after getting shots in the last few
weeks. Earlier this month, Vietnam instructed all localities nationwide
to stop using the vaccine.

Bush
admin opposes Democratic push to sue OPEC 22 May 2007 The Bush
regime on Tuesday said it would likely veto a Democratic-sponsored bill
in the U.S. Congress that would allow the government to sue the OPEC
oil producers group for price manipulation. Committees in both the Senate
and House of Representatives have approved versions of the "No Oil Producing
and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007," or "NOPEC."

22
Governors Request Gas Price Probe --Prices Hit Records Nationwide
22 May 2007 Raising fears of crippled state and national economies,
22 governors have signed a letter to congressional leaders of both parties
seeking an inquiry into skyrocketing gasoline prices.

US
tries to freeze climate change talks 23 May 2007 The United
States is battling to stop next month's Group of Eight summit in Germany
from pushing for urgent talks on a new deal to fight global warming
after the Kyoto Protocol lapses in 2012. In a draft of the final communique
for the June 6-8 summit seen by Reuters, the Bush
regime wants references to the urgency of the climate crisis taken out
as well as the need for a United Nations conference in Bali in December
to open talks on a new global deal.

Fierce,
Busy Storm Season Ahead, Experts Say --13 to 17 Named Disturbances,
Including 7 to 10 Hurricanes, Are Predicted 23 May 2007 Far away,
off the coast of South America, the waters of the Pacific Ocean are
cooling ominously. In the Atlantic, the sea surface remains warm. And
overhead, the atmosphere is evolving toward what forecasters said yesterday
could be a dangerous hurricane season.

Power
Restored in Meriden; Woodchucks to Blame 22 May 2007 (CT) Power
has been restored in Meriden, and officials said woodchucks are to blame
for an outage that affected more than 4,000 people. Officials said a
family of woodchucks crawled under a transformer at an abandoned factory
on North Colony Street.

*****

U.N.
barred from Texas detention center 21 May 2007 U.S. immigration
officials blocked a U.N. observer from visiting a detention facility
for illegal aliens in Texas, the ACLU reported. U.N. Special Rapporteur
Jorge Bustamante is conducting a fact-finding mission to examine the
status of migrants' rights in the United States, but U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement prohibited him from making a scheduled stop
at a family detention center in Taylor, Texas, the ACLU reported on
Friday. The detention center, which was formerly a medium-security prison
according to the ACLU, is operated by the Corrections Corporation of
America through a contract with the Department
of Homeland Security. [See: KBR
Awarded U.S. Department of Homeland Security Contingency Support for
Emergency Support Services 24 Jan 2006]

Iraq
draws up plans if U.S. forces leave 21 May 2007 Iraq's military
is drawing up plans on how to cope if U.S.-led forces leave the country
quickly, the defense minister said Monday. The statement by Defense
Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi marked the first time a senior Iraqi
official has spoken publicly about the possibility of a quick end to
the U.S.-led 'mission.' [The 'mission' is passage of the *oil law*
for Exxon Mobil and Cheney Halliburton.]

Iraq
preparing for US pullout 22 May 2007 Iraq's military is drawing
up plans on how to cope with a quick US military pullout, the local
defence minister says. A senior US official has warned the United States
may reconsider its support if the Iraqis fail to complete major 'reforms'
by fall.

Useless
is as useless does: Dems
set war bill without Iraq timeline 21 May 2007 In grudging concessions
to President [sic] Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding
bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn
of at least some of the billions they want for domestic programs, officials
said Monday. It would provide funds for military operations in Iraq
through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

10
killed in Iraq 22 May 2007 Attackers killed seven civilians
near Baquba and a roadside bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad
Monday. The Voice of America said a child was among those who died in
the Baquba north of Baghdad.

The
US is pushing *really hard* for that oil law to pass!Mortar
shell hits Iraq parliament 21 May 2007 A mortar shell struck
the roof of Iraq's parliament inside Baghdad's heavily protected[apparently *not*] Green Zone on Monday, shaking the building
but causing no casualties. "The rocket landed
on the roof of the parliament right above the speaker's office,"
said Sheikh Sabah Saadi, an MP from the Shi'ite Fadhila Party.

7
killed on bus in Iraq; parliament hit 21 May 2007 [US] Gunmen
in two cars attacked a minibus heading to Baghdad from a Shiite town
north of the capital Monday, killing seven passengers, including a child,
police said. A mortar shell hit the roof of the parliament building
inside the heavily guarded[?] Green Zone in Baghdad,
but no one was injured, a lawmaker said.

U.S.
raids don't find 3 missing soldiers 21 May 2007 U.S. soldiers
raided suspected safehouses near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad
on Monday in their search for three captured comrades but found them
empty after the militants apparently were tipped off and fled, a military
spokesman said.

Iraq
War Creates Ammo Shortage
--Ammo Shipments Delayed 21 May 2007 The war in Iraq is having an impact
on local gun shops and police departments. Experts said ammunition shipments
are being delayed for up to a year because the Army has more than tripled
its demand for small-caliber ammunition. The government spent $688
million on ammunition last year, up from $242 million in
2001.

Outlaws
plunder Iraq's dwindling river fisheries 20 May 2007 For thousands
of years fishermen have drawn their livelihoods out of the brown waters
of the mighty Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which teem with species found
nowhere else in the world. But now -- as overlapping civil wars grip
much of Iraq [due to the US invasion] --
[US] outlaws equipped with pesticides, hand grenades and electric
cables are driving the country's fisheries to extinction and leaving
local fishermen with empty nets. "Iraq's fish are suffering from these
terrible crimes," said Faiq Salim, one of the oldest fishermen in the
central Iraqi town of Kut, 175 kilometres (110 miles) downriver from
Baghdad.

Iran
Charges U.S. Scholar With Trying to Topple Government 21 May
2007 American 'scholar' Haleh Esfandiari has been charged with trying
to topple the Iranian government, Iran's state [as opposed to corporate]-controlled
television reported today. Iran's Intelligence Ministry accused Esfandiari,
director of Middle East programs at the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, of trying to foment a soft revolution
by setting up a network "against the sovereignty" of Iran. Esfandiari
was imprisoned May 8 after more than four months under virtual house
arrest.

Iran's
secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq 22
May 2007 Iran is secretly forging ties with 'al-Qaida' elements and
Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with
occupation forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting
for full military withdrawal, US officials say.

Iran
says anti-U.S. policy "bigger than Hiroshima" 21 May 2007 Iran's
policies of standing up to the United States have set off a "powerful
bomb in the world of politics" bigger than the atom bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday.

Bush
doesn't want detente. He wants to attack Iran.The US has swept aside repeated overtures from Tehran. Is it any
wonder if the Islamic Republic now wants the bomb? By Alain Gresh
15 May 2007 Although the US administration's current priority is Iraq,
it has not given up on Iran. Silently, stealthily, unseen by cameras,
the war on Iran has begun. Many sources confirm that the US has increased
its aid to armed movements among the ethnic minorities that make up
about 40% of Iran's population. ABC News reported in April that the
US had secretly assisted the Baluchi group Jund al-Islam (Soldiers of
Islam), responsible for a recent attack that killed 20 Revolutionary
Guards. According to an American Foundation report, US commandos have
operated inside Iran since 2004... Despite the disaster in Iraq, there
is no indication that Bush has given up the idea of attacking Iran...
The idea of an assault against Iran is after all part of the Bushite
vision of a "third world war" against "Islamic fascism", an ideological
war that can end only in complete victory.

Poland
considers CIA prison issue closed: PM 22 May 2007 Polish Prime
Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on Monday that Poland considered the
CIA prison issue closed, the PAP news agency reported. The UN Committee
Against Torture on Monday appealed that it needed additional information
on Poland's inquiries into the matter "despite Poland's earlier assurances
that no CIA cells were located on its territory."

Paris
calls off festival of US culture after threats--Letters
claiming 'al-Qaida' link force postponement --Event aimed at celebrating
Franco-US relationship 22 May 2007 A festival due to be held in Paris
this weekend to celebrate American music and culture has been called
off after death threats from an anti-US group claiming links to al-Qaida
[al-CIAduh]. The death threats, along with warnings suggesting that
the event itself might be attacked, were made in anonymous telephone
calls and an apparently badly written letter
containing numerous spelling mistakes. [LOL! Bush must
have written it.]

Judge
may use terrorism penalty in eco-saboteur sentences 21 May 2007
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled today that federal sentencing guidelines
allow her to consider imposing a "terrorism enhancement" on 10 convicted
eco-saboteurs, a designation that could make them eligible for longer
prison terms.

Pilotless
police drone takes off 21 May 2007 The UK's first police remote
control helicopter has taken off. Merseyside police are using the "spy
drone", fitted with CCTV cameras, mainly for tackling
anti-social behaviour and public disorder. The machine is
1m wide, weighs less than a bag of sugar[i.e., they can be
easily shot down], and can record images from a height of 500m.

If
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out Look! Up in the sky! It's .
. . By Mark Yannone 21 May 2007 England's masters of their new police
state have launched the Spy Drone, a remote-controlled or GPS-controlled,
pilotless helicopter armed with a closed-circuit TV camera... Sporting
Brits in Merseyside will love the new machine as it gives them a challenge
other than doves and clay pigeons. When the three-month trial of the
drones gets under way in June, the country air will be redolent with
spent gunpowder. Pull! Another job well done.

Panel
receives details, roadblock
21 May 2007 Seung-Hui Cho did not fire half of his ammunition before
taking his own life on April 16, Virginia State Police Superintendent,
Steven Flaherty, said to the state panel Monday. Police have found 174
used cartridge casings from both a 9 MM handgun and a .22 caliber handgun.
Police also recovered 203 live rounds of ammunition... Earlier in the
Monday’s testimony, the panel met a roadblock during the presentation
from Kay Heidbreder, the University Counsel.

Bush
renews support for Gonzales 21 May 2007 With Republican support
for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales eroding, President [sic] Bush
offered renewed confidence in his longtime friend Monday and said the
attacks on him were "pure political theater." But the pResident did
not respond directly to a question about whether he expected Gonzales
to serve until Bush's term ends Jan. 20, 2009.

US
senate poised for historic vote against Gonzales --A vote
against Bush's man could deal another blow to the White House, which
is still recoiling from the ouster of the World Bank's president.
22 May 2007 The US Senate was preparing to take the almost unprecedented
move of a no-confidence vote on US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
ramping up pressure on US President [sic] George W. Bush to sack his
unpopular longtime aide. After weeks of allegations of politicizing
the justice system and, in his earlier position as White House counsel,
trying to strong-arm his predecessor at the Department of Justice, Gonzales
could face the extremely rare vote in the coming week.

Retail
Gasoline Prices Set New Record --Price of Gasoline Jumps
to $3.22 A Gallon, Matching the March 1981 Inflation-Adjusted All-Time
High Price For Gasoline in the United States 21 May 2007 Retail
gasoline prices climbed to another record Monday, while crude oil futures
jumped above $66 per barrel amid concerns about gasoline supply heading
into the peak summer driving season.

Exxon
Mobil profits reach new record 26 Apr 2007 Exxon
Mobil Corp earnings continued to hit new records Thursday
as the world's largest oil company reported a 10- per-cent rise in first-quarter
profits on high petrol prices, despite a fall in the cost of crude oil.

Exxon
Mobil profits up 10% in first quarter, set record 27 Apr 2007
Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. kicked off 2007 with a 10 percent rise in
profits, its best-ever first quarter,
as higher margins on refining and chemical operations offset lower prices
for crude oil and natural gas.

Monkey
dead from bubonic plague in Denver 21 May 2007 A Denver Zoo
monkey has died of bubonic plague, apparently after eating a squirrel
stricken with the disease, Colorado health and zoo officials said on
Monday.

Birds
decimated by West Nile virus 17 May 2007 U.S. researchers have
determined the West Nile virus has apparently caused the continental-scale
decline of seven species of birds across North America.

*****

Secret
US plot to kill Al-Sadr
21 May 2007 The US Army tried to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr, the
widely revered Shia cleric, after luring him to peace negotiations at
a house in the holy city of Najaf, which it then attacked, according
to a senior Iraqi government official [National Security Adviser, Dr
Mowaffaq Rubai'e]. The revelation of this extraordinary plot, which
would probably have provoked an uprising by outraged Shia if it had
succeeded, has left a legacy of bitter distrust in the mind of Mr Sadr
for which the US and its allies in Iraq may still be paying... It is
not known who gave the orders for the attempt on Mr Sadr but it is one
of a series of ill-considered and politically explosive US actions in
Iraq since the invasion. In January this year a US helicopter assault
team tried to kidnap two senior Iranian security officials on an official
visit to the Iraqi President.

Britain
in secret talks with Iraq rebels 20 May 2007 Britain is holding
secret talks with leading 'insurgents' in Iraq with the aim of dividing
them from Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] in a new drive to curb sectarian violence.
Dominic Asquith, the British ambassador to Baghdad, is said to have
been coordinating the talks over recent months, along with other British
representatives believed to be from MI6. Details of the initiative,
which followed the failure of similar talks between 'insurgents' and
American officials, emerged yesterday as Tony Blair visited Iraq.

Brown
to pull troops out of Iraq 20 May 2007 Gordon Brown will remove
all British forces from Iraq before the next election under a plan to
rebuild support among disillusioned Labour voters. Scotland on Sunday
can reveal the Prime Minister elect is working on a withdrawal plan
that could see troop numbers slashed from 7,000 to as few as 2,000 within
12 months.

Iraq's
VP rejects draft oil bill 21 May 2007 Iraq's vice president
[Tariq al-Hashemi] said yesterday he opposes a draft law that is key
to the future of his country's lucrative oil sector, saying it gives
too many concessions to foreign oil companies.

Iraq-Iranian
agreement to lay oil pipeline 18 May 2007 The Iraqi government
has agreed with Iran to start laying oil pipeline between the two countries
to export Iraqi oil to the neighboring country, the official spokesman
for Iraq's Oil Ministry [Essam Jihad] said on Thursday.

Border
Agents Recruited for Iraq Duty 19 May 2007 A military contractor
is recruiting current and former agents with the U.S. Border Patrol
to teach Iraqis how to secure their national borders. [ROFL!]
The U.S. State Department has asked Virginia-based DynCorp International
to find 120 people with Customs and Border Enforcement experience to
go to Iraq for the training. The company already has 700 police trainers
[mercenaries] in Iraq. [The US can't seal its own borders, but the
terrorists from DynCorp are going to seal Iraq's borders? See: DynCorp
Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002Middle-aged
men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben
Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he
blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company
doing business in Bosnia.]

Attacks
in Iraq Leave 7 Soldiers, 1 Interpreter Dead, Army Says 21 May
2007 Seven American soldiers and one interpreter were killed in attacks
in Baghdad and southern Iraq, the U.S. Army said. Six Multi-National
Division-Baghdad soldiers and an interpreter working for them died when
a roadside bomb hit their patrol in western Baghdad on May 19, the U.S.
Army said in a statement e-mailed late yesterday from Iraq. One soldier
died and two were wounded in a similar attack on the same day near ad-
Diwaniyah, 224 kilometers south of Baghdad, another statement said.

US
Soldiers' Spanish Indictment Appealed 18 May 2007 Prosecutors
on Friday appealed a judge's decision to charge three U.S. soldiers
with homicide in the death of a Spanish journalist in Iraq, a court
official said. Prosecutors at the National Court said the troops from
the U.S. 3rd Infantry committed no crime [!?!] when their tank fired
a shell at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel in 2003, killing Jose Couso, a
cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco, and Taras Portsyuk,
a Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters.

Suicide
bomb kills 14, wounds 31 21 May 2007 A suicide bomber walked
into a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan and blew himself up, killing
14 people and wounding 31, officials and witnesses said. The blast came
a day after a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan killed three German
soldiers and seven civilians.

Israel
kills 9; 8 in raid on Hamas official's home 20 May 2007 Israel
launched more strikes against Gaza militants on Sunday, killing nine
Palestinians in two aerial assaults, including one that struck the home
of a prominent Hamas politician, security officials said.

Blix
awarded Sydney Peace Prize 21 May 2007 Swedish diplomat Hans
Blix, chairman of the UN Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, has
been awarded the 2007 Sydney Peace Prize. The Sydney Peace Foundation,
which announced the award this morning, said Dr Blix was the unanimous
choice of the prize jury.

Guantanamo
detainee David Hicks starts sentence in Adelaide prison 21 May
2007 David Hicks, the first Guantanamo Bay prisoner to be tried by a
US military tribunal, was in a maximum-security prison in Adelaide yesterday
after being flown home to his native Australia. Under an agreement with
US prosecutors, most of Hicks's seven-year sentence was suspended, and
the former kangaroo skinner will be freed at the end of December. In
exchange, he pleaded guilty to giving "material support" to al-Qa'ida
[al-CIAduh].

Commander:
War on terrorism will be long 20 May 2007 The commander of the
nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile force says the war on [of]
terrorism will be long. Maj. Gen. Thomas Deppe, 20th Air Force commander,
recently told officials at Minot Air Force Base that he believes that
"taking the war to the enemy instead of letting them bring it to
us" is the proper strategy.

CIA
briefing SEC monthly on terrorists: Barron's 20 May 2007 The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is being briefed monthly by
the Central Intelligence Agency about terrorists and other criminals
[Cheney] active in global stock markets, Barron's said in its latest
edition.

Officials
mum on plane in Bush no-fly zone
20 May 2007 Aviation and law enforcement officials were mum Saturday
about a small plane that was apparently forced from the skies near President
[sic] Bush’s ranch by two Air Force fighter jets Saturday morning. Officials
with the Federal Aviation Administration and the McGregor Executive
Airport, where the yellow plane landed, said they knew nothing about
any plane being forced down because of entering restricted air space
near the Bush ranch, just west of Crawford.

'Orwellian'
surveillance challenged 21 May 2007 The rapid spread of surveillance
cameras raises fears that Britain is moving towards an "Orwellian" society,
a senior police officer has warned. Ian Readhead, the Deputy Chief Constable
of Hampshire, expressed alarm over the widespread use of closed-circuit
television cameras.

Freedom
of information '‘needs restraints' 21 May 2007 A crackdown on
those who abuse the Freedom of Information Act will begin this week
as the row intensifies over whether MPs should be exempt from the law.
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, will call for a new "charter
of restraint" amid growing concerns that the Act is becoming a
victim of its own success.

U.S.
gas prices jump more than 11 cents, hit record high20 May 2007
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline hit a record high of
$3.18, rising more than 11 cents over the past two weeks, according
to a nationwide survey released Sunday. The previous record adjusted
for inflation was $3.15 per gallon in March 1981.

Coming
soon: the shopping channel run by drug firms
21 May 2007 Four of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are
proposing to launch a television station [Pharma TV] to tell the public
about their drugs, amid strenuous lobbying across Europe by the industry
for an end to restrictions aimed at protecting patients.

States
balk at cancer vaccine mandate 20 May 2007 Over the past several
months, a vaccine [Gardasil] that once was hailed as a breakthrough
to prevent cancer deaths has become embroiled in some of the nation's
most politically charged issues: teen sex, parental control, state mandates,
a backlash against vaccines and a suspicion of drug companies [pharma-terrorists].

31
states target global warming 09 May 2007 Led by California,
31 states representing more than 70% of the U.S. population announced
Tuesday that they would measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions
by major industries. The newly formed Climate Registry is the latest
example of states going further than the federal government in taking
steps to combat global warming. All agree that the most important part
of the new registry is subjecting emissions statistics to third-party
verification — unlike a Bush administration program that does not require
verification.

Polar
bears at risk as warming thaws icy home 20 May 2007 Time may
be running out for polar bears as global warming melts the ice beneath
their paws. U.S. President [sic] George W. Bush's administration is
due to decide in January 2008 whether to list polar bears as "threatened"
under the Endangered Species Act. [Quick action!
(NRDC) Send
a message urging the Bush Administration to finalize the listing
of the polar bear and designate its critical habitat.]

*****

US
surge is failing, says UK's Iraq envoy
19 May 2007 The "troop surge" by American soldiers in Iraq is not working,
one of Britain's senior military officials in Baghdad has said. In a
pessimistic assessment of the strategy designed to pull Iraq back from
all-out civil war, Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defence attaché at
the British Embassy in Baghdad, claimed that extra US forces were not
achieving the desired drop in violence.

Bush
gets ready for Iraq U-turn by Brown 20 May 2007 Gordon Brown
is prepared to risk the future of the "special relationship" with the
United States by reversing Tony Blair's support for the Iraq war, President
[sic] George W Bush has been warned. He has been briefed by White House
officials to expect an announcement on British troop withdrawals from
Mr Brown during his first 100 days in power.

Iraq
protesters greet Brown at start of tour 20 May 2007 Prime minister-in-waiting
Gordon Brown was greeted by protesters demanding he pull troops out
of Iraq on Sunday as he launched a campaign tour that has turned into
a triumphal procession. About 50 placard-waving demonstrators calling
for British troops to come home from Iraq waited at the entrance of
the University of Warwick campus for Brown's arrival.

Iraqi
parliament speaker: Three-quarters of them responsible for sectarian
killings, cleansing--Iraqi parliament falling into disarray
19 May 2007 Iraq's parliament has been making headlines — for all
the wrong reasons. The 275-seat legislature is increasingly being viewed
as irrelevant and ineffective by many Iraqis for its inability to tackle
sectarian violence, soaring crime and a failing economy. The disarray
threatens passage of several crucial pieces of U.S.-backed legislation,
including a bill for the fair [LOL!]
distribution of oil revenues...
Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab Islamist and a former physician
jailed by former president Saddam Hussein, has taken much of the heat
for what many see as his outrageous behavior... The sitting had already
been cut short when many lawmakers left the chamber to protest the speaker's
claim that three-quarters of them were responsible for the sectarian
killings and cleansing.

World's
Biggest U.S. Embassy May Not Be Quite Big Enough By Al Kamen
16 May 2007 For all those who keep whining about how the government
can't do anything right, we're happy to report that the massive New
Embassy Compound in Baghdad, the biggest U.S. embassy on earth, is going
to be completed pretty much as scheduled in August. The bad news is
that it appears it's not going to have enough housing for all the employees
who'll be moving to the 27-building complex on a 104-acre tract of land
-- about the size of the Vatican, two-thirds the size of the Mall --
within the Green Zone.

Blasts
Hit Green Zone During Blair Visit
19 May 2007 Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose premiership
has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the Iraq war, arrived
here on a farewell visit Saturday, and three mortar shells or rockets
slammed into the compound where he met with Iraq's leaders. The attack
on Baghdad's heavily fortified [LOL!] Green Zone wounded one person,
said U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor. One round hit the British Embassy
compound, security officials said on condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to release the information. A fourth projectile
exploded just outside the Green Zone. [Four projectiles --and none
reached their target?]

CIA
tracks Al Qaeda resources from Iraq
19 May 2007 A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama
bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but
has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives
and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S.
intelligence officials familiar with the operation. In one of the most
troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in
Pakistan increasingly is being funded by cash coming out of Iraq...
The influx of money has bolstered Al Qaeda's leadership ranks at a time
when the core command is regrouping and reasserting influence over its
far-flung network [just in time for Bush bin Laden to attack prior
to the 2008 'elections'].

Troops
cast wider net in Iraq search 20 May 2007 Two of the three US
soldiers missing since a May 12 ambush south of Baghdad are believed
to have been alive as recently as two days ago, but the third might
be dead, the military said yesterday as it broadened its search for
the men. The soldiers have been the focus of a huge dragnet by US troops,
who have detained more than 700 people for questioning in and around
Yusifiya, a market town 10 miles south of the capital.

'Sort
of an affiliate of al-Qaida has US soldiers' --Gen. Petraeus
says U.S. knows who kidnapped three American soldiers 19 May 2007
The top U.S. commander in Iraq thinks he knows who kidnapped three U.S.
soldiers last weekend and believes that at least two of them are alive,
the Army Times newspaper reported. "We know who that guy is,"
Gen. David Petraeus said in an interview posted Saturday on the Army
Times Web site. Petraeus did not give the man's name[?!]
but described him as "sort of an affiliate
of al-Qaida. He's the big player down in that area.We've tangled with him before."

Eight
more US soldiers killed in Iraq 19 May 2007 Eight more American
troops were killed In Iraq, seven of them on a single day, the US military
said Saturday, amid raging violence and a desperate search for three
captured soldiers.

Relations
will be less special, Washington fears 19 May 2007 First impressions
endure, and those left by Gordon Brown in Washington have prompted senior
allies of President [sic] Bush to ask if the special relationship can
survive in its current form when the prime minister in waiting gets
the keys to Number 10. Administration officials believe that while Mr
Brown will inherit Tony Blair's office, he will not take on the mantle
of America's closest ally.

US
regime 'worst ever' - Carter 20 May 2007 Former President Jimmy
Carter says President [sic] George Bush's administration is "the worst
in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's
policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy. The criticism,
which a biographer says is unprecedented for Mr Carter, also took aim
at Mr Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite
disturbing" faith-based initiative funding. "I think as far as the adverse
impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been
the worst in history," Mr Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Abominable.
Blind. Subservient. Ex-President Carter lambasts Blair for support
19 May 2007 The former US President Jimmy Carter lambasted Tony Blair
for his "blind " support of the Iraq war today, saying it had been a
"major tragedy for the world". The outgoing Prime Minister's relationship
with President [sic] George Bush appeared to have been "subservient"
and "abominable", according to Mr Carter.

US
raids made 2,000 Afghans homeless: Red Cross 19 May 2007 Bombing
by US forces in western Afghanistan last month wrecked 173 houses and
left 2,000 people homeless, the Red Cross said, announcing findings
of its assessment of the damage. Preliminary UN and Afghan investigations
have found that around 50 civilians were killed in the April 27 and
29 assaults, which involved US Special Forces, with final reports due
this week.

Afghanistan
suicide attack kills 10 19 May 2007 A suicide attacker detonated
himself next to German soldiers shopping in a crowded market in northern
Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 10 people and wounding 16, officials
said.

Israel
decides to "intensify" Gaza strikes 20 May 2007 Israel said
on Sunday it would step up strikes against Gaza militant leaders involved
in rocket attacks against southern Israel, but stopped short of ordering
a wider offensive in the coastal strip.

Six
Charged With Rigging Army Contracts 19 May 2007 Six people were
arrested Friday for allegedly taking part in a contract-fixing scheme
at the U.S. Army Medical Command at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. The defendants
were indicted on charges they drew up contracts totaling $18 million
for companies with which they were associated or even owned outright.

Coast
Guard program to upgrade its fleet is taking on water 19 May
2007 When the Coast Guard's first large cutter in 35 years was christened
in November at Northrop Grumman's Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard, it was
a gleaming symbol of the service's ambitious $24 billion Deepwater program
to update its aging fleet. Six months later, Deepwater is listing badly
under a storm of congressional criticism for design mistakes, cost overruns,
and lax oversight. A botched program to lengthen existing patrol boats
from 110 feet to 123 feet [LOL!] has forced the Coast Guard to cancel
the conversions and completely scrap eight ships.

Big
banana firms paid off terrorists, Colombian ex-warlord tells inquiry
19 May 2007 Some of the world's best-known banana firms financed right-wing
Colombian militias that killed thousands of people during a decade-long
reign of terror, a jailed warlord has claimed. In testimony to investigators,
Salvatore Mancuso named multinationals Chiquita,
Del Monte and Dole
as having made regular payments to the United Self-Defence Forces of
Colombia (AUC), considered a terrorist organisation by the United States
and the European Union. [Gee, isn't funding/supporting terrorists
covered under the USA Patriot Act? Why aren't the CEOs of Chiquita,
Del Monte and Dole awaiting a military tribunal ('trial') at Guantanamo
Bay?]

Australian
repatriated from Guantanamo Bay
19 May 2007 'Convicted' al-Qaida supporter David Hicks landed in his
hometown in a private jet Sunday after more than five years in the U.S.
military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hicks – the first terrorist
suspect convicted by a U.S. military commission in Cuba – was transferred
to a South Australia state prison to serve the final seven months of
his sentence for aiding al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

Ex-Guantanamo
officer guilty of leaking U.S. secrets 17 May 2007 A Navy lawyer
who gave a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay prisoners
was convicted in military court today of communicating secret information
that could be used to injure the United States. Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz
also was convicted of three counts of leaking information to an unauthorized
person, but was acquitted of printing out national defence information
with the intent or reason to believe it would be used against the U.S.

Guantanamo
Attorneys Sue NSA and DOJ 18 May 2007 A civil liberties group
representing 16 attorneys of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday
sued the National Security Agency and the Justice Department, claiming
that the government illegally spied on the lawyers with warrantless
wiretaps and has refused to turn over records of the snooping. The Center
for Constitutional Rights filed
the FOIA suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York.

Airlines
may bar 'dangerous' passengers: Canada rule proposal 19 May
2007 Canada's airlines will have greater leeway to bar passengers who
appear to be dangerous under a proposed rule change the Ministry of
Transportation announced Saturday. The new rule would "strengthen air
operators' ability to protect the safety of all passengers and crew
by refusing to board those who may represent a threat to that safety
[?!?]," the ministry said in a statement.

Gonzales's
Signature Moment By Eugene Robinson 19 May 2007 It just gets
worse and worse. We already knew that Alberto Gonzales -- who, unbelievably,
remains our attorney general -- was willing to construe the Constitution
and the Geneva Conventions however George W. Bush and Dick Cheney wanted.
We knew he was willing to politicize the Justice Department, if that
was what the White House wanted. Now we learn that Gonzales also was
willing to accost a seriously ill man in his hospital room to get his
signature on a dodgy justification for unprecedented domestic surveillance...
It's hard not to think of that scene in "The Godfather" when Don Corleone
is left alone in his hospital bed, vulnerable to his enemies, and Michael
has to save him... This is the attorney general of the United States,
ladies and gentlemen. Heaven help us.

Whitman
to testify on 9/11 health issues
18 May 2007 Christie Whitman, the former Environmental Protection Agency
administrator, agreed to testiLIE before Congress about the government's
handling of air quality and health issues following the Sept. 11 attacks.

House
GOP Uses Procedural Tactic to Frustrate Democratic Majority
--Motion to Recommit Employed to Delay or Alter Legislation 19
May 2007 House Republicans, fighting to remain relevant in a chamber
ruled by Democrats, have increasingly seized on a parliamentary technique
to alter or delay nearly a dozen pieces of legislation pushed by the
majority this year. In the 12 years of Republican control that ended
in January, Democrats passed 11 motions to recommit. Republicans have
racked up the same number in just five months of this Congress.

Ruling
throws cold water on environmental whistleblowers
18 May 2007 The sentence was buried deep within a recent Labor Department
ruling, but the message was clear: Whistleblowers, beware. More specifically:
Whistleblowers relying on the protections against official retaliation
contained in several major environmental laws, proceed with caution.
The sentence was in a footnote at the end of a ruling against a federal
whistleblower. It said the Labor Department recognized only the
protections written into the clean air and solid waste-disposal acts,
not laws governing clean water, drinking water, toxic substances and
hazardous waste.

Nation's
top weather officials resign 19 May 2007 One day after its hurricane
forecasters complained of budget cuts, the head of the National Weather
Service [David Johnson] and his deputy [John Jones] announced they will
retire next month... Bill Proenza, the center's director, said in an
interview that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
the parent of the weather service, is spending up to $4 million to publicize
its 200th anniversary while cutting $700,000 for hurricane research.

Tainted
Chinese Imports Common
--In Four Months, FDA Refused 298 Shipments 20 May 2007 For years,
U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with
foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have
simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products
they caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making
a second or third attempt at entry. Now activists and members of Congress
demanding that the United States tell China it is fed up.

Poll:
American satisfaction at new low 20 May 2007 Only 25 percent
of those surveyed say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction,
according to an AP-Ipsos poll this month. The current glumness is widely
blamed on public discontent with the war in Iraq and with President
[sic] Bush. It is striking for how widespread the mood is among different
groups of people.

US
government trying to seize new Michael Moore film, says producer
19 May 2007 Sicko, a documentary tackling the state of American healthcare,
focuses on the pharmaceutical giants, and particularly on health insurers.
The film has already caused Moore - who won the Palme d'Or at Cannes
in 2004 with Fahrenheit 911 - to clash with the American authorities.
Now, according to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company
is behind the film, the US government is attempting to impound the negative.

'Sicko'
stars thank Moore for Cuba trip
19 May 2007 It could have been a college reunion... but the guy in shorts
was Michael Moore, whose new documentary, "Sicko," takes aim at the
U.S. health care industry with the same fury — laced with humor, of
course, and plenty of statistics — that he directed at the Bush regime
in his hit "Fahrenheit 9/11." And the people who'd flown in for this
intimate first screening included grateful Sept. 11 "first responders,"
suffering lung problems or other ailments from their days at ground
zero.

The
Last Confessions of E. Howard Hunt
--He was the ultimate keeper of secrets, lurking in the shadows of American
history. He toppled [implemented] banana republics, planned the Bay
of Pigs invasion and led the Watergate break-in. Now he would reveal
what he'd always kept hidden: who killed JFK By Erik Hedegaard 21 Mar
2007

*****

Kidnap
and torture: new claims of Army war crimes in Iraq
--Robert Verkaik reveals evidence of systemic ill-treatment of civilians
by British soldiers in the aftermath of the overthrow of Saddam 18 May
2007 The British Army is facing new allegations that it was involved
in "forced disappearances", hostage-taking and torture
of Iraqi civilians after the fall of the regime of Saddam
Hussein... The family of another Iraqi civilian claims he was arrested
and kidnapped by the British in order to secure the surrender of his
brother, who was also accused of being a high-ranking member of the
party. He was later found shot dead, still handcuffed and wearing a
UK prisoner name tag.

Guantanamo
lawyer faces jail term 19 May 2007 A US Navy lawyer faces six
months in prison and dismissal from service for sending a human rights
lawyer the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Lt Cdr Matthew Diaz,
41, posted a list of the names in an unmarked Valentine's Day card during
the final days of his service at Guantanamo Bay in 2005. He apologised
during his sentencing for having acted "irrationally". [You
know you're living in a police state when they start imprisoning the
lawyers. --LRP]

Bahraini
in US jail talks of his ordeal
18 May 2007 A Bahraini held at Guantanamo Bay has drawn a painfully
bleak picture of his conditions in the US-run prison camp, saying that
he was earnestly looking forward to his death. "I can say that life
and death here are equal, but death has become my greatest hope to end
my misery, suffering and sad life. Now, we are in psychotherapy unit
facing different kinds of regular torture at the hands of the officers
and physicians. Even the physician
of the clinic whom every one calls Flintstone excelled in criminality,"
Juma Al Dossari has written in an emotional letter to his US lawyer,
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan.

Let
me die pleads Juma
18 May 2007 A Bahraini prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has begged to be allowed
to kill himself in a harrowing letter to his lawyer. Juma Al Dossary
says inmates are being tortured physically and psychologically on a
regular basis and their life is no longer worth living. He said prisoners
are also unable to complain to anyone inside the prison camp - alleging
it was those in charge of the facility who are abusing them. "We
die here hundred times a day and I swear to God if I have the opportunity,
I would end the life of misery, torture and terror I live at the hands
of those people," writes Al Dossary.

Secrecy
Surrounds Hicks' Imminent Release From Guantanamo Bay 18 May
2007 Convicted [Framed] Australian 'terrorist' David Hicks will arrive
back in his home town of Adelaide tomorrow to serve out the remainder
of his nine-month sentence negotiated as part of a plea bargain agreement
by his military lawyer, Major Michael Mori. Australian Attorney-General
Philip Ruddock has signed a "warrant of transfer" and the Australian
government has been advised of the time of his transfer though refuses
to divulge any details to prevent a "media circus" [?] according to
ABC News Radio.

Iran
tells US to admit 'failure' in Iraq[Right, just admit the
truth.] 18 May 2007 Iran said on Friday the United States should
admit to the "failure" of its Iraq policies at the upcoming Tehran-Washington
meeting on Iraqi security if it wants the talks to make progress. "If
the Americans admit to the failure of their policies in Iraq, have a
serious will to correct the current situation, and help the Iraqi people
and government to implement security there, these talks can progress
and create hope," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

Saboteurs
have upper hand in an endless war, says Iraq's Oil Minister
18 May 2007 Every day saboteurs blow up Iraqi oil pipelines and Oil
Ministry teams try to repair them in an endless war to strangle Iraq's
oil exports to the Mediterranean. Right now the saboteurs have, perhaps
temporarily, the upper hand. The US is pressing for a draft oil bill
that has been in dispute for more than a year to be finally passed by
parliament... There is some hypocrisy here because the year in which
the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority ran the Iraqi oil industry
in 2003-04 was famous for managerial incompetence and corruption.

Two
ABC News Journalists Killed in Iraq 18 May 2007 Two Iraqi ABC
News broadcast journalists were killed in Iraq, ABC News President David
Westin announced this morning. Cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz and soundman
Saif Laith Yousuf, were returning home from work at the ABC News Baghdad
bureau yesterday afternoon when their car was reportedly ambushed and
they were killed by 'unknown' assailants. [This
one has Blackwater USA written all over it.]

Killed
in Iraq: ABC Loses Two Journalists 18 May 2007 ABC News was
devastated this week by the kidnapping and subsequent killings of two
of its employees in Baghdad. Details surrounding
the killings of cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz and soundman Saif Laith Yousuf
are not entirely clear[LOL, there's a big f*cking surprise]
but they bear the markings of the sectarian [US] violence ravaging Iraq
today.

Death
Toll for Contractors Reaches New High in Iraq --At least
917 mercenaries killed; more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured
on the job 19 May 2007 Casualties among private contractors [mercenaries]
in Iraq have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that
seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the 'civilians'
who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according
to new government numbers.

Australian
experts in hunt for US soldiers 18 May 2007 Australian forensic
experts have been called in to help search for three American soldiers
feared captured by 'al-Qaeda' in Iraq. US officials have expressed cautious
optimism that the three missing soldiers are still alive, as troops
drained canals and questioned [interrogated] children in the
search for the trio.

DemocRATs
roll over for Bush, again:White
House rejects war bill concession 18 May 2007 Democratic congressional
leaders on Friday offered their first major concessions in a fight with
President [sic] Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House
turned them down. In a closed-door meeting with Bush's top aides on
Capitol Hill, Democrats said they'd strip billions of dollars in domestic
spending out of a war spending that Bush opposed if the pResident would
accept a timetable to pull combat troops out of Iraq. As part of the
deal, Democrats said they would allow the pResident to waive compliance
with a deadline for troop withdrawals.

Soldier's
Smallpox Inoculation Sickens Son 18 May 2007 A 2-year-old boy
spent seven weeks in the hospital and nearly died from a viral infection
he got from the smallpox vaccination his father received before shipping
out to Iraq, according to a government report and the doctors who treated
him. Smallpox was officially declared eradicated
by the World Health Organization in 1979, and inoculation of military
personnel was suspended in 1990. But, the [pharma-terrorists']
government began vaccinating military personnel and many health care
workers, with 1.2 million vaccinated as of March of this year.

Condi
Rice--Cooked in Oil?
By Barry Lando 18 May 2007 ...U.S. oil giant Chevron apparently paid
indirectly to Saddam during the same period. Chevron will now pay between
$25 to $50 million dollars in fines as part of a settlement with the
U.S. Justice Department... In January 2005, during Senate confirmation
hearings to be the nation’s next Secretary of State, Ms. Rice expressed
her outrage at revelations that Saddam had used some of the billions
he skimmed from the Oil-for-Food program to purchase dual use equipment
that could have been used to produce WMD. "I think it is a scandal
what happened with Oil-for-Food" She told the senators. "We’ve
got to get to the bottom of what happened here…and those who were responsible,
I think, should be held accountable." Right, except that during
much of the period that Chevron was violating the sanctions, Condoleezza
Rice was on the Chevron Board of Directors.

Rumsfeld
update 18 May 2007 Former Defense Secretary [war criminal] Donald
H. Rumsfeld has moved to new offices on M Street Northwest where he
is working on setting up a new foundation, according to Larry Di Rita,
a former Pentagon spokesman and Rumsfeld aide. Mr. Rumsfeld, who until
recently worked in office space in Rosslyn during [!] a transition from
the Pentagon post, has set up DHR Holdings LLC... The goal is to promote
continued U.S. engagement in world affairs in furtherance of U.S. security
interests, Mr. Di Rita said.

Rumsfeld's
resignation letter remains elusive 15 May 2007 The Bush regime
is keeping a tight hold on Donald Rumsfeld's resignation letter nearly
five months after the former defense secretary and Iraq war manager
stepped down. The Pentagon says it does not have a copy, and the White
House office likely to hold the letter is not subject to the law that
allows the public to seek release of government documents, the Freedom
of Information Act or FOIA.

Israel
strikes Hamas in Gaza, threatens more action 18 May 2007 Israel
struck Hamas targets in Gaza on Friday and threatened more strong action
to stop rocket attacks while Palestinian rival factions fought each
other in turmoil verging on civil war. Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, whose Fatah faction has been accused by Hamas of siding with
Israel, called U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and asked her
to halt an Israeli "military escalation," a Palestinian news agency
said.

Army
court issues partial stay in Watada court-martial
18 May 2007 The Army's court of appeals issued a partial stay Friday
in the planned second trial for a Fort Lewis soldier who refused to
go to Iraq and spoke out against the Bush regime. The decision by the
Army Court of Criminal Appeals in Arlington, Va., means the July 23
court-martial for 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of Honolulu could be on hold
until the court reviews arguments from both sides.

Newport
Loyalty Day controversy stirs boycott
17 May 2007 When two anti-war groups showed up to take part in the annual
Loyalty Day Parade in Newport, organizers sent them marching in the
other direction. Now two weeks later, as high season on the Oregon coast
heats up, Newport finds itself at the heart of a boycott that has tourists
pledging to take their loyalty elsewhere. So far, more than 475 people
have signed on to an online petition
protesting how parade organizers handled the confrontation and promising
to bypass Newport merchants.

Senators
Press CIA to Release 9/11 Report --CIA Is Only Counterterrorism
Federal Office That Has Not Made Some Version of Report Available
18 May 2007 A bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation that
would force the CIA to release an inspector general's report on the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The CIA has spent more than 20
months weighing requests under the Freedom of Information Act for its
internal investigation of the attacks but has yet to release any portion
of it.

MSU
student learning about terrorism
18 May 2007 Sterling Raehtz, 19, [Michigan State University] was one
of 40 undergraduate students chosen from across the nation to participate
in the Anti-Terrorism Fellowship Program. The yearlong program aims
to educate students about terrorism directed at democratic nations and
show how those nations are working to prevent [foment] it. In
August, Raehtz will travel to Tel Aviv University in Israel, where he
and the other students will spend 14 days meeting with military officials
and international ambassadors.

National
ID: Biometrics Pinned to Social Security Cards 15 May 2007 The
Social Security card faces its first major upgrade in 70 years under
two immigration-reform proposals slated for debate this week that would
add biometric information to the card and finally complete its slow
metamorphosis into a national ID. The leading immigration proposal with
traction in Congress would force employers to accept only a very limited
range of approved documents as proof of work eligibility, including
a driver's license that meets new federal Real ID standards, a high-tech
temporary work visa or a U.S. passport with an RFID chip. A fourth option
is the notional tamper-proof biometric Social Security card, which would
replace the text-only design.

Salazar:
Gonzales should resign 18 May 2007 U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO)
today called for the resignation of his friend, U.S. Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales, whose leadership he said had tarnished the Department
of Justice.

Top
Republican thinks Gonzales will resign 17 May 2007 The top Republican
on the Senate Judiciary Committee [Arlen Specter, PA] said Thursday
that he expects the investigation into the firings of federal prosecutors
will lead to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation.

Blair
is urged to hand over power now 18 May 2007 Tony Blair has rejected
growing pressure for him to stand down immediately on the grounds that
he is a "lame duck" now that Gordon Brown has been confirmed as the
next prime minister.

Mega
barf alert of 2007, worse than the 20 million melamine-tainted chickens
and 56,000 melamine-tainted pigs cleared for sale by the USDA: Blair
tipped to be World Bank president as disgraced Wolfowitz resigns18 May
2007 Tony Blair may be asked to head the World Bank after its president
quit in a sleaze row.[LOL!]
One of America's top economists today revealed that the retiring prime
minister is being considered as a replacement for disgraced Paul Wolfowitz.

Grieving
parents rip Virginia gun prizes 18 May 2007 Parents of students
slain in the Virginia Tech massacre stood in quiet protest last night
against the so-called "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway" run by a Virginia gun-rights
group. The Virginia Citizens Defense League - a group that boasts of
being to the political right of the National Rifle Association on gun
control issues - held its giveaway in a heavily guarded Fairfax County
building in Annandale.

Appointed
Hobblers of Government (The New York Times) 18 May 2007 Across
six years, the Bush administration has mocked all standards of conflict
of interest by choosing private industry zealots for high regulatory
posts — where they worked to roll back hundreds of rules on transportation,
workplace and mine safety, the environment and other issues. The latest
in this subversive chain must surely take the fox-in-the-henhouse statuette:
President [sic] Bush has nominated Michael Baroody, lobbyist for the
powerful National Association of Manufacturers, to lead the Consumer
Product Safety Commission... As a lobbyist for the N.A.M., Mr. Baroody
was a key figure in industry’s successful campaign to water down commission
standards requiring notice from companies about defective products,
from toys to appliances. He has lobbied to limit the liability of asbestos
makers in damage suits. He has lobbied against the growing statehouse
campaign to require safer burning cigarettes, arguing this is a national
issue. Imagine the priority this safety concern would receive from an
agency run by Mr. Baroody.

Report
says 1 in 4 in Pa. are 'working poor' 18 May 2007 Ivy Pack of
Mount Oliver falls into the demographic of working poor, along with
25 percent of all Pennsylvanians who do not make enough to adequately
support their families, according to a report issued yesterday. PathWaysPA,
a social service advocacy agency, said southwestern Pennsylvania nearly
mimicked the statewide rate of poverty, with 21 percent.

Study:
Southern Ocean saturated with CO2 17 May 2007 The Southern Ocean
around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely
absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm
up the planet, scientists reported Thursday. Human activity is the main
culprit, said researcher Corinne Le Quere, who called the finding very
alarming.

Polar
ocean 'soaking up less CO2' 17 May 2007 One of Earth's most
important absorbers of carbon dioxide (CO2) is failing to soak up as
much of the greenhouse gas as it was expected to, scientists say. The
decline of Antarctica's Southern Ocean carbon "sink" - or reservoir
- means that atmospheric CO2 levels may be higher in future than predicted.

*****

Group
sues Justice, NSA, alleging they spied on Guantanamo lawyers
17 May 2007 A civil liberties organization on Thursday sued the Justice
Department and the National Security Agency in New York federal court,
alleging that the government illegally spied on 16 lawyers who have
represented prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba. The
suit, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, demands that the
government agencies comply with requests filed by the attorneys under
the Freedom of Information Act to turn over all records of the NSA's
warrantless wiretapping of the attorneys.

Justice
Weighed Firing 1 in 4
--26 Prosecutors Were Listed As Candidates 17 May 2007 The Justice
Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials
have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested
for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to
sources familiar with documents withheld from the public. Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited
to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration
officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.
In fact, D. Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales's chief of staff, considered
more than two dozen U.S. attorneys for termination, according to lists
compiled by him and his colleagues, the sources said.

Democrats
seek no-confidence vote on attorney general 17 May 2007 Two
Senate Democrats [Chuck Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of
California] said Thursday they will seek a no-confidence vote on Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales over accusations that he carried out President
[sic] Bush's political agenda at the expense of the Justice Department's
independence.

Was
Gonzales' Emergency Visit Illegal? 17 May 2007 When then-White
House counsel Alberto Gonzales [and White House chief of staff Andrew
Card] went to John Ashcroft's hospital room on the evening of March
10, 2004 to ask the ailing Attorney General to override Justice Department
officials and reauthorize a secret domestic wiretapping program, he
was acting inappropriately, Ashcroft's deputy at the time, James Comey,
testified before Congress earlier this week. But the question some lawyers,
national security experts and congressional investigators are now asking
is: Was Gonzales in fact acting illegally?

'And,
the antics - what we saw went on - is reminiscent of something in a
Third World dictatorship, not the United States of America.' --Sen.
Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Hardball, commenting on then-White
House counsel Alberto Gonzales and White House chief of staff Andrew
Card strong-arming John Ashcroft at the intensive care unit of George
Washington University Hospital. Ashcroft and Card wanted Ashcroft to
reauthorize Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program. 17 May 2007

Can
You Even Imagine How Bad it Must Have Been? By Marty
Lederman 16 May 2007 I want to put yesterday's incredible [James] Comey
testimony in some context, to demonstrate just how otherworldly
this story is -- and what an extraordinary tale it tells about the nature
of the officials who are running our government... The White House told
the DOJ officials that it was going to go forward with the program anyway,
even after DOJ had opined that it was unlawful. And yet not only would
Ashcroft, et al., not budge -- they were prepared to resign their
offices if the President [sic] allowed this program of vital importance
to go forward in the teeth of their legal objections.

Watergate
Without the Break-In 16 May 2007 By Marie Cocco It is time to
stop referring to the "fired U.S attorneys scandal" by that
misnomer, and call it what it is: a White House-coordinated effort to
use the vast powers of the Justice Department to swing elections to
Republicans... Connect the dots and you see an insidious effort to corrupt
the American electoral system. It’s Watergate without the break-in or
the bagmen.

Iraq
is on the verge of collapse: report 17 May 2007 Iraq's government
has lost control of vast areas to powerful local factions and the country
is on the verge of collapse and fragmentation, a leading British think-tank
[Chatham House] said on Thursday.

Army
Punished 2 Officers in '06 After Failures in Iraq Ambush 18
May 2007 An Army general relieved a company commander and a platoon
leader of their commands last year after enlisted men were ambushed
and killed by insurgents at an isolated observation post south of Baghdad
in June 2006, Army officials said yesterday.

Suicide
bomber hits Kandahar governor - witnesses 17 May 2007 A suicide
bomber targeted the governor of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province
on Thursday, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear if the governor,
Assadullah Khalid, survived the attack which happened in Kandahar city.

Three
blasts in southern Afghanistan kill 10 people, injure information minister
17 May 2007 A suicide car bomber rammed into a government convoy in
southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing three people on the street
and wounding the information minister, the governor said. Earlier, two
bomb blasts 15 minutes apart killed seven people in the province, including
three police officers responding to the first explosion.

Attorneys
Seek Immunity for Cheney, Top Officials
18 May 2007 Attorneys for Vice President [sic] Cheney and top White
House officials told a federal judge yesterday that they cannot be held
liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer
Valerie Plame or her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.
The officials, who include senior White House adviser Karl Rove and
Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, argued that
the judge should dismiss a lawsuit filed by the couple that stemmed
from the disclosure of Plame's identity to the media.

Lawyer:
'Fanciful Claims' in Plame Suit 17 May 2007 Lawyers for Vice
President [sic] Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and two other Bush regime officials
belittled Valerie Plame's lawsuit Thursday over the disclosure of her
CIA identity. At a nearly-three-hour court hearing, Cheney's lawyer
said Plame was making "fanciful claims" in what amounted to
"a fishing expedition." ['Fanciful claims?' Those were
Cheney Halliburton's assertions that there were WMDs in Iraq. --LRP]

Harry
could still go to Iraq, MoD says
17 May 2007 Prince Harry [the Nazi] could still be sent to Iraq at a
future date, the Ministry of Defence said today. The news came as military
experts questioned whether the third in line to the throne could have
any future in the army if he stayed at home. [See: Prince
wears Nazi regalia 13 Jan 2005 Prince Harry stunned partygoers
by attending a pal’s birthday bash dressed as a Nazi soldier. Harry
wore the swastika and desert uniform of Rommel’s hated German Afrika
Korps to the party in West Littleton, Wilts.]

Israel
launches Gaza air strikes
17 May 2007 Israel's aircraft have struck a number of targets in Gaza
after it vowed a severe response to rocket attacks on its soil. A Hamas
commander died in an attack on a car and another militant was killed
in a housing unit, both in Gaza City. A raid on a Hamas office also
killed one person and injured at least 45.

I
have witnessed a lot, but this is the worst --Ibrahim Barzak
describes a day caught with his family in the factional crossfire in
Gaza City. 18 May 2007 With battles raging outside my building and my
windows blown out by bullets, I sit in a dark hallway outside my apartment
with my wife and baby. It is dangerous inside and outside. Today I have
seen people shot before my eyes...

Brown
heading for coronation
17 May 2007 Gordon Brown was last night on course for an unopposed "coronation"
as the next Labour leader and prime minister after securing the backing
of the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs.

The
Padilla frame-up rolls on: Expert:
7 Padilla prints found on form17 May 2007 Seven fingerprints
on a purported al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] training camp application
came back as matches to suspected terrorist operative Jose Padilla,
a government expert testified Thursday... Defense lawyers theorize that
Padilla may have touched the form during his long military confinement
at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. He was held for 3 1/2 years as an
enemy combatant before he was criminally indicted in Miami in late 2005.
Although the form was one of dozens found in a binder in late 2001,
it wasn't analyzed for Padilla's fingerprints
until August 2006, Morgan said. The fingerprints appear
only on the front of the first page and back of the last page, possibly
indicating that the form had been simply handed to Padilla at some point,
defense lawyers say.

'We
have to make sure we're not declaring martial law.' [Right, it's
UNdeclared martial law.]Street
lockdowns proposed for Baltimore 17 May 2007 A city council
leader, alarmed by Baltimore's rising homicide rate, wants to give the
mayor the power to put troubled neighborhoods under virtual lockdown.
Under City Council Vice President Robert W. Curran's plan, the mayor
could declare "public safety act zones," which would allow police to
close liquor stores and bars, limit the number of people on city
sidewalks, and halt traffic during two-week intervals. Police would
be encouraged to aggressively stop and frisk individuals in those zones
to search for weapons and drugs.

Detroit
council urges Bush impeachment 17 May 2007 The Detroit City
Council called for the impeachment of President [sic] Bush and Vice
President [sic] Dick Cheney, unanimously passing a resolution sponsored
by a Democratic congressman's wife. The nonbinding resolution, approved
Wednesday, says Bush and Cheney conspired to defraud the United States
by "intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat
from Iraq in order to justify the war."

Michigan
GOP leader wants Paul barred from future debates 16 May 2007
The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party said Wednesday that he
will try to bar Ron Paul from future GOP presidential debates because
of remarks the Texas congressman made that suggested the Sept. 11 attacks
were the fault of U.S. foreign policy. [Hell, they were carried out
by Bush himself!]

Wolfowitz
Resigns From World Bank 17 May 2007 World Bank President Paul
D. Wolfowitz resigned this afternoon, effective June 30, giving in to
overwhelming pressure from bank staff and governments around the globe
that he depart to end the ethics controversy that has consumed the institution.
Wolfowitz agreed to resign in negotiations with the bank's executive
board, pre-empting a growing likelihood that he would have been formally
reprimanded or fired, said bank officials who spoke on condition they
not be named.

Senate
Negotiators Agree on Immigration Overhaul Plan 17 May 2007 Senate
negotiators reached bipartisan agreement on immigration legislation
aimed at providing a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented
aliens while improving U.S. border security. [Corpora-terrorists
get slave labor and drive down wages for (what's left of) the US workforce.
Meanwhile, taxpayers pay the healthcare bills for undocumented workers
- instead of their employers.]

White
House: 3.5 percent pay hike unnecessary 16 May 2007 Troops don’t
need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday
in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the
House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.

Sen.
Schumer calls for the breakup of Big Oil
17 May 2007 Sen. Chuck Schumer [D-NY], taking a page out of President
Teddy Roosevelt's book, yesterday called for the breakup of the big
oil companies. Schumer warned a trustbusting move like this will take
time. [Schumer rocks!]

Big
Oil attacked over record gas prices --Critics tell House
panel that mismanagement, lack of competition are behind record prices;
call for gas reserve, possible oil company breakup. 16 May 2007
Big Oil went on the defensive Wednesday, getting grilled before a House
panel and denying accusations that mismanagement and a lack of competition
are the reasons behind this spring's record gasoline prices.

Judiciary
Hearing on Oil Prices and Market Failure: A Federal Investigation Denied
Posted by Jesse Lee 16 May 2007 The Judiciary Committee Task Force on
Antitrust has concluded its hearing, "Prices at the Pump: Market
Failure and the Oil Industry." Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General
for the State of Connecticut, describes a meeting he had with US Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales requesting a federal investigation into the
oil industry: "We pleaded with Attorney General Gonzales and FTC
Chairman Majoras, Platt, [sic] to begin an investigation of the oil
industry, and we offered our partnership in that work. All 50 Attorneys
General have hands full investigating monopolistic abuses on the part
of the oil industry, but we lack the authority, and expertise, and resources
of the federal government. And so we invited, we beseeched the
federal government to join us in that investigation and so far they
have declined to do so."

Hurricane
chief: NOAA wasted millions 17 May 2007 The federal government
is spending millions of dollars on a publicity campaign while its hurricane
forecasters are struggling with budget cuts, the National Hurricane
Center's director said Thursday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration is spending up to $4 million to publicize a 200th anniversary
celebration, said Bill Proenza, who heads the hurricane center, part
of the National Weather Service, which is a NOAA agency. At the same
time, it has cut $700,000 from hurricane research, he said.

129,000
pounds of beef recalled for E. coli --Meat products in 15
states may be contaminated, agriculture agency says 17 May 2007
A meat company is recalling 129,000 pounds of beef products in 15 states
because of possible E. coli contamination, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
[Agribusiness] said.

USDA:
56,000 melamine-tainted pigs cleared for sale
16 May 2007 Roughly 56,000 pigs that were fed contaminated pet food
scraps are safe to be eaten, the Agriculture Department said Tuesday.
The decision permits the pigs to be slaughtered for human consumption.
They had been held off the market in seven states: California, Illinois,
Kansas, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah. The pigs’
feed included scraps from pet food made using an imported Chinese ingredient
later found to have been tainted by the industrial chemical melamine
and related compounds.[See also: USDA:
20 million melamine-tainted chickens cleared for sale 08 May
2007. God, I hope Bush and Cheney are gobbling up all of this 'food,'
since its "safe."]

Rapid
rise in global warming is forecast 18 May 2007 The oceans are
losing the capacity to soak up rising man-made carbon emissions, which
is increasing the rate of global warming by up to 30 per cent, scientists
said yesterday.

*****

Senate
Rejects Iraq Troop Withdrawal 17 May 2007 Congressional Democratic
leaders signaled on Wednesday that they were ready to give ground to
end an impasse with President [sic] Bush over war spending after the
Senate soundly rejected [67-to-29 vote] a Democratic plan to block money
for major combat operations in Iraq beginning next spring.

Senate
GOP Drafts Proposal for Iraq Bill 16 May 2007 A small group
of Republican senators, led by Virginia's John Warner, are coalescing
around legislation that would threaten billions of dollars in U.S. aid
to Iraq and make clear American troops will stay only as long as Baghdad
lives up to its promises. [What 'promises' could one nation possibly
owe another? Oh, that's right --*oil.* The *oil law* needs to pass the
Iraqi parliament, and the US will be satisfied. I wonder if 'insurgents'
(actual freedom fighters, not al-CIAduh's car bomb planting teams that
the US media calls 'insurgents') will find the oil equipment and blow
it all to kingdom come, once the oil law passes and the US leaves? A
lot of people would call that justice, after Shock & Awe and all.
--LRP]

Quit
Iraq by March, say Democrats
17 May 2007 Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have backed legislation
to cut off funding for most combat operations in Iraq by March 2008,
the first time the top two Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed
a firm deadline to end the war. John Edwards has called for an immediate
withdrawal of US forces.

Violence
across Iraq, mortars hit Green Zone 17 May 2007 Two people were
killed in mortar attacks on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on
Wednesday, the second serious attack in two days. Violence raged across
Iraq, with police confirming on Wednesday that 45 people had been killed
the previous day by a [US] chlorine gas truck bomb in Diyala,
one of the most volatile provinces since a security crackdown [?] began
three months ago.

Attack
in Baghdad's Green Zone Kills 2 16 May 2007 At least nine
apparent mortar rounds slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone on
Wednesday, the second such attack in as many days, an official said.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said two Iraqis were killed and 10 people were
wounded. No American casualties were reported. The explosions occurred
shortly before 4 p.m., about the same time the Green Zone was hit Tuesday.

Car
bomb near market kills 32 in Iraq 16 May 2007 A car bomb exploded
near a market in a Shiite enclave northeast of Baghdad, killing at least
32 people and wounding 50, police said Wednesday. Hospital officials
and victims said chlorine gas may
have been used in the attack, but police denied that. [Gee, I wonder
who can get their hands on chlorine - a WMD - in Iraq?]

Prison
Supports Iraq Security System
16 May 2007 Supporting the security and 'justice' systems in Iraq is
one of the main challenges that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confronts
to help the Iraqi government develop the infrastructure countrywide.
According to Rick Mers, a project engineer with the Gulf Region South
District, the New An Nasiriyah Maximum Security Correctional Facility,
which is built by the Army Corps of Engineers in the Dhi Qar Province,
is considered to be the biggest prison in the south of Iraq.

Guantanamo
Bay detainee claims torture at prison 16 May 2007 A Pakistani
citizen who grew up in suburban Baltimore, where his father still lives,
told a U.S. military hearing that he was tortured at the U.S. military
prison at Guantanamo Bay after he was transferred there from secret
CIA custody, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

Commander's
Veto Sank Threatening Gulf Buildup By Gareth Porter 15 May 2007
Admiral William Fallon, then President [sic] George W. Bush's nominee
to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in
February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier
strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately
there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM,
according to sources with access to his thinking.

Gas
May Have Harmed Troops, Scientists Say
17 May 2007 Scientists working with the Defense Department have found
evidence that a low-level exposure to sarin nerve gas -- the kind experienced
by more than 100,000 American troops in the Persian Gulf war of 1991--
could have caused lasting brain deficits in former service members.

Many
VA officials who got bonuses sat on pay review boards
16 May 2007 Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance
bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the
boards charged with recommending the payments. Documents obtained by
the Associated Press raise questions of conflict of interest in connection
with the bonuses, some of which went to senior officials involved in
crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans'
healthcare.

Norfolk
Service Members Become U.S. Citizens 16 May 2007 Eight local
service members and one military spouse became U.S. citizens during
a naturalization ceremony, May 15, at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) Field Office in Norfolk. An executive order that passed
in 2002 now makes it easier for aliens serving on active duty to apply
for naturalization... According to the USCIS, there are currently 40,000
service members who are eligible to become U.S. citizens.

Vet
Prosecuted for Opposing Recruitment in Library By Matthew Rothschild
14 May 2007 Tim Coil's wife was putting up 3x5 cards on the window of
the room used by the recruiters. "Don’t fall for it! Military recruiters
lie," said one. "It’s not honorable to fight for a lying President,"
said another. Then the police came.

Israeli
aircraft fire on Gaza Strip --At least 16 Palestinians die
in factional clashes; Israelis target Hamas 16 May 2007 At least
16 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting in Gaza on Wednesday
and Israel entered the fray with an airstrike on a [an alleged] Hamas
position that killed at least four people. The Israeli army confirmed
that it targeted the [alleged] Hamas position in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Web
site" baffles Internet terrorism trial judge 16 May 2007 A judge
admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like
"Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via
the Internet. "The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't
really understand what a Web site is," Judge Peter Openshaw told a London
court during the trial of three men charged under anti[pro]-terrorism
laws.

Giuliani:
Terror Is Biggest Threat[No. The Bush regime is.] 16
May 2007 Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday
the greatest threat facing the world is terrorism spawned by Islamic
fundamentalists [al-CIAduh] and that Republicans are best equipped to
combat it.

Rudy
Giuliani tied to 'superhighways' --Law firm represents consortia
funding NAFTA-related routes 15 May 2007 Questions are being raised
over Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's policy on terrorism,
after a report revealed he has strong ties to two foreign investment
consortia working to own or lease U.S. toll roads, including the Trans-Texas
Corridor 35, which is identified as part of the I-35 "NAFTA Superhighway."

Former
EPA Chief Refuses to Testify on Post-9/11 Air Quality 16 May
2007 Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator at the Environmental
Protection Agency, has refused to testify before a congressional subcommittee,
regarding the government's handling of the air quality at the World
Trade Center site following the 9/11 attacks.

Leahy
threatens White House with subpoenas 16 May 2007 Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday sent a strongly worded
letter to President [sic] Bush’s counsel Fred Fielding and threatened
to issue subpoenas if the White House continues to "stonewall"
an investigation into its involvement in the firing of several U.S.
attorneys.

Democrats
Move to Expand Probe of Gonzales, Justice Department
16 May 2007 Senate Democrats, spurred by revelations that then-White
House Counsel Alberto Gonzales pressured hospitalized Attorney General
John Ashcroft in 2004 to approve a secret spying program, are stepping
up a probe of the Justice Department.

James
Comey: White House pressed 16 May 2007 A former top Department
of Justice (DoJ) official yesterday provided a firsthand account of
how the White House recertified a controversial counterterrorism program
without the approval of DoJ -- a decision that almost led to the resignation
of the department’s leadership. Former Deputy Attorney General James
Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the firing
of several U.S. attorneys and provided his side of a story that Sen.
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called both "amazing" and "shocking."

Senators
Renew Call for Gonzales' Ouster 17 May 2007 Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales came under renewed pressure Wednesday, as two more
Republican senators came out against him and Democrats challenged his
truthfulness about President [sic] Bush's [illegal] no-warrant eavesdropping
program. The developments revived a debate over Gonzales' fitness to
head the Justice Department a day after a former deputy attorney general
recounted a dramatic hospital bedside confrontation between Gonzales
and his predecessor, John Ashcroft.

Hagel
Demands Gonzales' Resignation 16 May 2007 Sen. Chuck Hagel on
Wednesday became the latest Republican (NE) to call for Alberto Gonzales'
resignation, saying revelations about a sick bed visit to his predecessor
has undermined his moral authority to lead the Justice Department.

Dead,
fired attorneys' Medicare fraud probe linked to White House
By Joe Martin 13 May 2007 According to Medical Supply Chain CEO Samuel
Lipari who is suing hospital supply company Novation LLC, Missouri Democratic
Senator Claire C. McCaskill knew that seven U.S. attorneys—two assistants
who turned up dead, three assistants who resigned or were fired and
two U.S. attorneys who were also forced out—had something in common:
all seven were investigating Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the United
States healthcare system involving overcharging for hospital supplies
and medical fees amounting to billions of dollars in fraud. Lipari’s
suit against Novation has ties to the White House in that the President’s
[sic] brother Jeb Bush joined the board of directors of Novation member
Tenet Healthcare on April 12, 2007 and George W’s cousin’s company wrote
software for hospital equipment global reference numbers...

Wolfowitz
Hangs On As Ouster Hits Wall 17 May 2007 The Bush regime spent
much of yesterday trying to broker a graceful end to the ethics controversy
consuming the World Bank, offering the resignation of embattled president
Paul D. Wolfowitz, senior administration and bank officials said. But
Wolfowitz said he would not leave, insisting on a measure of vindication.

Crews
worry about wind spreading N.J. wildfire --Blaze set off
by military jet; fire still raging on Fla.-Ga. border and in Minn.
16 May 2007 Firefighters in New Jersey kept an anxious eye on the weather
Wednesday as they battled a wildfire that had consumed about 20 square
miles of brush after a military jet dropped a flare on a bombing range
[f*cking morons]. With the dry conditions, strong wind gusts quickly
fanned the blaze through the Warren Grove Gunnery Range about 25 miles
north of Atlantic City.

*****

White
House pressed Ashcroft to recertify NSA surveillance program: ex-deputy
AG 15 May 2007 Former US Deputy Attorney General James Comey
testified [transcript]
before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that in March 2004, in
response to Comey's reservations about reauthorizing the controversial
warrantless domestic surveillance program, then-White House Counsel
Alberto Gonzales and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card attempted
to pressure the hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to reauthorized
the program. Comey, who was acting attorney general during Ashcroft's
hospitalization, has not previously discussed the incident in public,
which was first reported in early-2006 by the New York Times.

President
Intervened in Dispute Over Eavesdropping 16 May 2007 President
[sic] Bush intervened in March 2004 to avert a crisis over the National
Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program after Attorney General
John Ashcroft, Director Robert S. Mueller III of the F.B.I. and other
senior Justice Department aides all threatened to resign, a former deputy
attorney general testified Tuesday. Mr. Bush quelled the revolt over
the program's legality by allowing it to continue without Justice Department
approval, also directing department officials to take the necessary
steps to bring it into compliance with the law, according to Congressional
testimony by the former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey.

Is
the Noose Tightening on Gonzales? [Hopefully, and it needs to tighten
on some others, as well.]
15 May 2007 Now that the number-two official at the Justice Department
has resigned, the question many in Washington are asking is: Will soon-to-be-former
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty be DOJ's fall guy — or its worst
nightmare?

Pentagon
restricting testimony in Congress --Blocks staff of lower
rank 10 May 2007 The Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions
on who can testify before Congress, reserving the right to bar lower-ranking
officers, enlisted soldiers, and career bureaucrats from appearing before
oversight committees or having their remarks transcribed, according
to Defense Department documents. Robert L. Wilkie, a former Bush administration
national security official who left the White House to become assistant
secretary of defense for legislative affairs last year, has outlined
a half-dozen guidelines that prohibit most officers below the rank of
colonel from appearing in hearings, restricting
testimony to high-ranking officers and civilians appointed by President
[sic] Bush.

Kabul
is moving to curb independent news media 07 May 2007 The government
of Afghanistan, competing with the Taliban for public support and trying
to fend off accusations that it is corrupt and ineffective, is moving
to curb one of its own most impressive achievements: the country's flourishing
independent news media.

"You
do realize that you degrade the quality of a piece of evidence by handling
it with your bare hands?" asked one of Padilla's lawyers, Orlando do
Campo. "Yes," replied the CIA agent.Mystery
Afghan gave Padilla evidence to U.S. 15 May 2007 An Afghan man
drove up to a CIA outpost in Kandahar in December 2001 and delivered
a truckload of documents, including what prosecutors say is U.S. citizen
Jose Padilla's al Qaeda pledge form, according to trial testimony on
Tuesday. The CIA agent who received the documents said he had never
seen the man before but understood that he was loyal to a tribal leader
cooperating with U.S. forces who were then driving out Afghanistan's
Taliban government.

Terror
Suspect Claims CIA Tortured Him 15 May 2007 A Pakistani terrorism
suspect denied any connection to 'al-Qaida' and said he was tortured
and his family was hounded by U.S. authorities, according to a transcript
released Tuesday by the Pentagon. Majid Khan, in a lengthy written statement,
said the CIA and the Defense Department tortured him after his capture
in Pakistan as well as when he was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay
detention facility.

Guantánamo
Detainees' Suit Challenges Fairness of Military's Repeat Hearings
15 May 2007 The military system of determining whether detainees are
properly held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, includes an unusual practice:
If Pentagon officials disagree with the result of a hearing, they order
a second one, or even a third, until they approve of the finding. These
"do-overs," as some critics call them, are among the most
controversial parts of the military’s system of determining whether
detainees are enemy combatants, and the fairness of the repeat hearings
is at the center of a pivotal federal appeals court case.

Judges
Focus on Guantanamo Bay Tribunals 15 May 2007 Two federal appeals
court judges subjected a Bush administration attorney to intense questioning
Tuesday as lawyers for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay pleaded for a broad
court inquiry on behalf of the detainees.

Navy
lawyer on trial for leaking names 15 May 2007 Attorneys for
a Navy lawyer facing up to 24 years in military prison for leaking Guantánamo
detainee names to a civil liberties group argued at his court-martial
Monday that the names weren't secret and did not endanger national security.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz faces five charges ranging from unlawfully
releasing classified material to conduct unbecoming an officer.

Cuban
exile found guilty of terrorism in mock trial 16 May 2007 Cuban
law students declared former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles guilty
of terrorism on Tuesday in a symbolic trial of the anti-Castro militant
who was recently freed in the United States. A 10-page verdict read
out in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana found Posada Carriles
guilty of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed
73 people and a wave of bomb blasts at Havana tourist sites in 1997.

US
Senate to vote Thursday on Iraq budget 16 May 2007 The US Senate
will act on emergency funding for Iraq operations on Thursday, a day
after anti-war Democrats vent their fury in two symbolic votes designed
to pile political heat on President [sic] George W. Bush.

Bush
selects Pentagon official as 'war czar' --Lt. Gen. Lute chosen
to oversee Iraq, Afghanistan conflicts, officials say 15 May 2007 President
[sic] Bush has chosen Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the Pentagon's director
of operations, to oversee the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as a
"war czar" after a long search for new leadership[!],
administration officials said Tuesday.

Coleman
sees Baghdad exit in '08 --U.S. troops will be out of the
Iraqi capital by then even if it results in a "Rwanda-style bloodletting,"
he says. 14 May 2007 Sen. Norm Coleman told a Minneapolis audience
Monday that although U.S. troops are "going to be in Iraq for a long
time," they will be out of Baghdad sometime in 2008, even if that means
leaving behind a "Rwanda-style bloodletting."

Iraq
Attacks Stayed Steady Despite Troop Increase, Data Show 16 May
2007 Newly declassified data show that as additional American troops
began streaming into Iraq in March and April, the number of attacks
on civilians and security forces there stayed relatively steady or at
most declined slightly, in the clearest indication yet that the troop
increase could take months to have a widespread impact on security.

U.S.
Army faces shortage of junior officers: memo 14 May 2007 The
U.S. Army, stretched thin by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has only
half of the senior captains it needs and will offer money and other
incentives to keep those officers, according to a memo obtained by Reuters
on Monday.

Son
of professor opposed to war is killed in Iraq 15 May 2007 Boston
University professor Andrew J. Bacevich has been a persistent, vocal
critic of the Iraq war, calling the conflict a catastrophic failure.
This week, the retired Army lieutenant colonel received the grim news
that his son had been killed on patrol there.

US
says captors of three soldiers in Iraq isolated 15 May 2007
U.S. forces searching for three soldiers said on Tuesday suspected al
Qaeda militants holding the men were trapped in an area of farmland
near Baghdad. Backed by helicopters and using sniffing dogs, thousands
of American and Iraqi troops taking part in the massive hunt have isolated
towns south of the capital, where the captors are believed to be hiding,
the military said.

Three
suspects released in bomb case in Britain
16 May 2007 Three people arrested last week in connection with the suicide
bombings in 2005 on London's transport system, including the widow of
ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan, have been released without charge,
police said. A fourth man, who was also arrested last Wednesday, remained
at a London police station after officers were granted a warrant to
detain him until May 21.

Update:
Silverstein Family Were All "Running Late"--On 9/11 Amazing
coincidences spared all three Silversteins from harm By Steve Watson
15 May 2007 Following our article
yesterday in which we revealed New York 9/11 truth activist Luke Rudkowski's
claims that Silverstein's security had personally told him that Silverstein
and his daughter got a warning on the morning of 9/11 not to come to
work that day, we have been inundated with emails asking us to highlight
the fact that there were in fact three Silversteins working in the towers
who were all "running late" on that day.

US
schools go to lockdown mode at the drop of a hat, in an effort to acclimate
society to the police state tactics the US will implement when Bush
bin Laden launches a bioterror attack: East
Lyme Schools Go to Lockdown Mode 15 May 2007 (CT) School officials
in East Lyme called for a lockdown of schools Tuesday morning. The move
was prompted after state police informed school officials that they
were looking for someone [?] in the area. A state police representative
did not tell NBC 30 News why the person was being sought.School
officials decided on their own to lock down the schools.

Gonzales
proposes new crime: 'Attempted' copyright infringement 15 May
2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [Tortureboy] is pressing the
U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual-property bill that would
increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including "attempts"
to commit piracy. The Bush administration is throwing its support behind
a proposal called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007...

White
House staunchly behind Wolfowitz as report finds he damaged World Bank
--President broke rules by arranging pay rise for lover --Bush
ally faces board before decision on his fate 16 May 2007 The Bush administration
circled its wagons round Paul Wolfowitz yesterday, arguing the World
Bank president did not deserve to be sacked despite the findings of
an investigating committee that he had damaged the organisation. The
concerted defence of Mr Wolfowitz, who was found to have broken rules
in arranging a pay rise for his girlfriend, came only hours before his
scheduled appearance before the bank's board yesterday afternoon to
try to keep his job.

Wolfowitz
mistakes "not a firing offense": W.House 15 May 2007 The White
House acknowledged on Tuesday that World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz
erred in the handling of a pay raise and promotion for his companion
but said that was not cause for him to be removed from his job.

Bush
Nominee to Get Payment From Old Job 16 May 2007 A senior lobbyist
at the National Association of Manufacturers [Michael E. Baroody] nominated
by President [sic] Bush to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission
will receive a $150,000 departing payment from the association when
he takes his new government job, which involves enforcing consumer laws
against members of the association.

Gas
prices rise as oil companies take in record profits By Mark
Rainer 15 May 2007 The average price for a gallon of gas in the United
States has surpassed the $3.00 mark and is currently at $3.07 per gallon.
The sharp rise in gas prices has contributed to record high profits
of the major oil companies... In the run-up
to the 2006 election, gasoline prices dropped an unprecedented 82 cents
over a four-week period. Many Americans felt at the time
that the sudden drop was related to the upcoming elections and the attempt
to limit pessimism over the economy by temporarily reducing gas prices.
This would presumably have had the effect of improving the chances of
the Republicans in the elections.

Television
Evangelist Falwell Dies at 73 15 May 2007 The Rev. Jerry Falwell,
the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it
to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly
after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a
school executive said.

Disappeared
without a trace: more than 10,000 Iraqis
13 May 2007 Over the past four years, tens of thousands of Iraqis have
vanished. Iraqi human rights groups put the figure at 15,000 or more,
while government officials say 40 to 60 people disappeared each day
throughout the country for much of last year, a rate equal to at least
14,600 in one year. Are they dead? Were they taken prisoner by the United
States, which is holding 19,000 Iraqis at its two main detention centers,
at Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca?

Senate
to vote on ending war funding 14 May 2007 Senate Democrats are
staging a dramatic anti-war vote this week, with moderates collaborating
behind closed doors on legislation that could call on President [sic]
Bush to rethink his war 'strategy.' Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
announced Monday that members will decide whether to cut off money for
the Iraq war next year, as well as a softer proposal calling for troops
to leave this fall.

Marine
colonel says captain not derelict in Haditha killings 14 May
2007 The actions of a Marine captain accused of failing to investigate
the deaths of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha never "rose
to the level of criminal dereliction," a Marine colonel testified Monday...
Also Monday, a Marine major testified that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani
shouted "my men are not murderers" after learning of allegations
that his troops targeted civilians. [Oh, yes they are.]

Soldier
blames death on reporter
15 May 2007 A US soldier being tried in absentia in Rome for killing
an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq said today that he did nothing
wrong and blamed the death on an Italian reporter who was rescued by
the agent. Washington has refused to hand over Mario Lozano, from the
US National Guard in New York, so he is on trial in absentia for killing
Nicola Calipari as the intelligence agent escorted a newly freed Italian
hostage out of the country in 2005.

U.S.
scrambles to keep Kirkuk from igniting
15 May 2007 When a bomb goes off here, Lt. Col. Michael Browder's job
is to make it seem like the attack never happened. Minutes after a truck
exploded near a police station last month, Browder and his unit immediately
went to work removing the bodies of the 13 victims, among them a U.S.
soldier. By nightfall, wrecked buildings were bulldozed, charred cars
towed away, and water and power restored...

U.S.
Embassy employees fearful over Green Zone attacks 14 May 2007
U.S. Embassy employees in Iraq are growing increasingly angry over what
they say are inadequate security precautions in the heavily fortified
Green Zone, where recent mortar and rocket attacks have claimed the
lives of six people, including two U.S. citizens.

Militants:
Stop Hunt for U.S. Soldiers 15 May 2007 An al-Qaida [al-CIAduh]
front group warned the United States on Monday to halt its expanding
search for three missing American soldiers "if you want their safety."
The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time it believes the servicemen
are in terrorist hands.

4
US soldiers killed in Iraq 15 May 2007 Four more US soldiers
have been killed in attacks around Baghdad, the military announced yesterday,
bringing US losses in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to 3,395. At least
44 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq in May alone, putting it on
course to be one of the bloodiest months since the invasion.

Iran
will 'retaliate strongly' to US attack 14 May 2007 Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned today that his country would retaliate strongly
to any possible attack by the US over Tehran's controversial nuclear
program.

Atomic
Agency Concludes Iran Is Stepping Up Nuclear Work 14 May 2007
Inspectors for the International Atomic Energy Agency have concluded
that Iran appears to have solved most of its technological problems
and is now beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before,
according to the agency’s top officials.

Red
Cross Report Says Israel Disregards Humanitarian Law 15 May
2007 The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a confidential
report about East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, accuses Israel
of a "general disregard" for "its obligations under international
humanitarian law — and the law of occupation in particular."

Ex-Navy
Lawyer on Trial in Guantanamo Case 15 May 2007 A Navy lawyer
[Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz] accused of passing 'secret' information
about Guantanamo Bay detainees sent a human rights lawyer their names
and intelligence about them tucked into a Valentine's Day card, prosecutors
said Monday. Diaz printed information including the names of 550 detainees,
their nationalities, the interrogators assigned to them and "intelligence
sources and [torture] methods,"
Hoffman said.

Fla.
doctor said he'd treat anti-U.S. forces
14 May 2007 A Florida doctor accused of pledging his life to 'al-Qaeda'
and Osama bin Laden testified Monday that he promised to treat Iraqis
who fought Americans while he worked at a military hospital in Saudi
Arabia. Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir said that he had pledged to treat those
who were injured in Iraq defending their homes, but that he did not
expect any of them to be taken hundreds of miles from Iraq to Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, where he was working at a military hospital in 2004 and
2005. Sabir said he believed that his promise
to give medical attention to injured Iraqis was consistent with his
oath as a physician to treat anyone who needs it. [Exactly.]

FBI,
security officials warn of growing threat from Islamic extremists 'next
door' 14 May 2007 Plots by American-based Islamic terrorists
with no direct ties to international terror networks form a large and
growing threat to the American homeland, FBI and other security officials
say. "The trend we're seeing is that we are uncovering more instances
of people here who have been radicalized … where there is not a direct
thumbprint of al-Qaeda," says John Miller, the FBI's assistant director
for public affairs.

U.S.
Air Marshals Flooding German, British Flights 14 May 2007 As
many as five or six U.S. air marshals are now assigned to each U.S.-bound
flight from airports in Frankfurt, London and Manchester, England, because
of fears terrorists might attempt a coordinated series of mid-air explosions,
law enforcement officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Chicago-Bound
Amtrak Train Evacuated --Passenger Claimed He Had Weapon
And Bomb 14 May 2007 A passenger on a Chicago-bound Amtrak train
who was detained in Colorado after other passengers became suspicious
has been released after the FBI determined he was not a threat. The
man, whose name was not released, was taken off the eastbound California
Zephyr about 20 miles west of Denver late Sunday after other passengers
said they heard him talking about a bomb and a knife, authorities
said.

ACLU
report: Whistle-blowers left exposed 14 May 2007 The American
Civil Liberties Union said the U.S. government gives no protection to
some employees who uncover wrongdoing or security breaches. In the report,
"Disavowed: The Government's Unchecked Retaliation Against National
Security Whistleblowers," the ACLU said U.S. law does not protect national
security whistle-blowers.

DHS
Privacy Committee Opposes Real ID Bill --U.S. Department of
Homeland Security has joined opposition to the Real ID bill, which would
create a national standard for state-issued identification. 12 May 2007
A privacy committee of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
has joined a growing chorus of voices opposed to the controversial Real
ID bill, which proposes to create a national standard for state driver's
licenses and other forms of state-issued identification.

Reminder:
Monday is Wiretap the Internet Day By Kevin Poulsen 11 May 2007
May 14th is the official
deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over
powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish
wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply
with the FCC's expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act.

'Honk
for peace' case tests limits on free speech
14 May 2007 When one of Deborah Mayer's elementary school students asked
her on the eve of the Iraq war whether she would ever take part in a
peace march, the veteran teacher recalls answering, "I honk for peace."
Soon afterward, Mayer lost her job and her home in Indiana... And when
she complained to federal courts that her free-speech rights had been
violated, the courts replied, essentially, that as a public school teacher
she didn't have any.

McNulty,
No. 2 Justice Department Official, to Resign 14 May 2007 Deputy
Attorney General Paul McNulty, a prominent figure in the political furor
over the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors, will resign. As the No. 2
Justice Department official, McNulty was responsible for overseeing
the 93 U.S. attorneys and helped coordinate the dismissals last year.

Schiff
Calls on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Resign 14 May
2007 In a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday Congressman Adam
Schiff, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, called on Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales to resign. Attorney General Gonzales appeared before
the Judiciary Committee and testified regarding the controversial firings
of U.S. Attorneys.

Wolfowitz
'broke World Bank laws' 15 May 2007 A panel of executives at
the World Bank says its President Paul Wolfowitz broke bank rules in
awarding a substantial pay rise to his girlfriend. The directors said
the full board of the World Bank should consider whether Mr Wolfowitz
was still able to provide effective leadership.

Bank's
Report Says Wolfowitz Violated Ethics 15 May 2007 A World Bank
committee charged Monday that Paul D. Wolfowitz violated ethical and
governance rules as bank president by showing favoritism to his companion
in 2005. In response, the Bush administration mounted a last-ditch global
campaign to save Mr. Wolfowitz from being ousted from office.

Cheney
says Wolfowitz should stay 14 May 2007 US Vice President [sic]
Dick Cheney said on Monday that embattled World Bank president Paul
Wolfowitz, who faces demands to step down over nepotism allegations,
should keep his job.

Giuliani's
Clients Could Pose Conflict 15 May 2007 As a partner in a law
and lobbying firm, Rudy Giuliani has profited from his firm's work representing
corporate clients before virtually every Cabinet department, exposing
himself to a wide range of potential ethical entanglements.

Tenet
hands Jeb Bush a big windfall 11 May 2007 Shareholders officially
elected former Gov. Jeb Bush to the board of Tenet Healthcare on Thursday
-- a part-time job that will bring him over $450,000
in the next year. For this, Bush has already received 34,667 shares
worth $260,000, which he has registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

Gas
Prices Hit a New Record at the Pump --Gas Prices at the Pump
Exceed Post-Katrina Record, While Gas Futures Prices Slide 14 May
2007 Gasoline prices hit a new record at the pump on Monday, but gas
futures prices fell on concerns that $3 gas will crimp demand. Oil prices,
meanwhile, rose on reports of refinery problems in the U.S. and abroad.

Vermont
state senator wants to reopen nuke waste issue
08 May 2007 A variety of sites around Vermont could be considered as
places to store high-level radioactive waste from the Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant, under a proposal floated Monday by Senate President
Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham.

U.S.
Aims to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Statement 13 May 2007 Negotiators
from the United States are trying to weaken the language of a climate
change declaration set to be unveiled at next month's G-8 summit of
the world's leading industrial powers, according to documents obtained
yesterday by The Washington Post.

Correction:Two
guilty of trying to leak details of Blair's talks with Bush
10 May 2007 Tony Blair's ill-fated war with Iraq claimed two more victims
yesterday when a civil servant and an MP's researcher were convicted
of disclosing details of a secret conversation between the Prime Minister
and President [sic] George Bush. [CLG had misidentified the MP's researcher
as Anthony Clarke. The researcher was Leo O'Connor. O'Connor worked
for the Labour MP, Anthony Clarke. CLG regrets the error. --LRP]

*****

CLG
Poll:
Which GOP Weapons of Mass Distraction will explode during the 2006,
2008 'election' seasons? By CLG General Manager, Lori
Price

'Sometimes
you wonder whose side the Americans are on.'Britain
fights to curb US Afghan onslaught 13 May 2007 Britain will
step up its presence in Afghanistan this week with the deployment of
a high-profile new ambassador as concern mounts that the toll of civilians
killed in the war is setting back the occupation’s 'efforts to win'
Afghan "hearts and minds". There is growing alarm over a wave
of US bombing raids in which 110 civilians have died in the past two
weeks. "Sometimes you wonder whose side the Americans are on,"
said a British official.

ROFL!
5,347,258th key al-Qaeda|Taliban (pick one) leader in Iraq|Afghanistan
(pick one) has been killed: Key
Taliban Leader Is Killed in Afghanistan14 May 2007 The man
who probably was the Taliban’s foremost operational commander, Mullah
Dadullah, was killed in a joint operation by Afghan security forces,
American forces and NATO troops in Helmand Province, Governor Asadullah
Khaled of the neighboring Kandahar Province said Sunday.

Gates:
US to be involved in conflict for 'another five or ten years'
--Army offering bonuses to keep officers 11 May 2007 The Army
will offer incentives to keep midlevel officers as it faces another
decade or so in combat around the world, its chief of staff said today.
Gen. George Casey, who took over as the Army's chief just a month ago,
said the United States will "be in a period of conflict for, I believe,
another five or ten years."

Iraqis
resist U.S. pressure to enact oil law 13 May 2007 Iraq's cabinet,
the Council of Ministers, approved a draft oil measure in February.
From there, it was to go to parliament. U.S. officials predicted passage
would be quick, but it has stalled. The objections are: regional distrust
of the Shiite-led central government; wariness of foreign interest;
and anger toward the United States, which many Iraqis believe invaded
Iraq solely to get its hands on the oil.

Thanks
to Bush:Al-Qaeda
planning militant Islamic state within Iraq 13 May 2007 A radical
plan by 'Al-Qaeda' to take over the Sunni heartland of Iraq and turn
it into a militant Islamic state once American troops have withdrawn
is causing alarm among US intelligence officials. A power struggle has
emerged between the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, an organisation
with ambitions to become a state which has been set up by Al-Qaeda,
and more moderate Sunni groups.

Iraq
to bar press from blast scenes 13 May 2007 Iraq's [US-installed]
interior ministry has decided to bar news photographers and cameramen
from the scenes of bomb attacks, operations director Brigadier General
Abdel Karim Khalaf said Sunday. His announcement was the latest in a
series of attempts to curtail
press coverage of the ongoing conflict, which has already
attracted criticism from international human rights bodies.

DOD
blocking YouTube, others
13 May 2007 Starting Monday, the Defense Department will block access
to MySpace, YouTube and a host of other sites on official department
computers worldwide, in an effort to boost its network efficiency
[?!?].
Troops and families living on U.S. bases will still be able to view
the sites through private Internet networks, but the move leaves servicemembers
in Iraq and Afghanistan who use the popular picture- and video-sharing
sites with little or no access to them.

No
More YouTube, MySpace for U.S. Troops By Sharon Weinberger 13
May 2007 Fresh from its battle against
blogs, the U.S. military now appears to be going after video and
social networking sites (at least those it doesn't control). Effective
Monday, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be allowed access
to websites like MySpace and YouTube using military networks, Stars
and Stripesreports.

Bloodshed
rises in Iraq as US demands 'victory' --As Tony Blair, one of
the architects of the Iraq war, prepares to leave office, it is clearer
than ever that his ally's strategy of systematically crushing the Sunni
insurgency is not working. In this special report from Baghdad, Patrick
Cockburn shows why. 13 May 2007

At
least 137 dead in Iraq violence 13 May 2007 On one of the deadliest
days in Iraq in recent weeks, at least 137 people were killed or found
dead. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political
party in northern Iraq, killing 50 people, and a car bombing in a crowded
Baghdad market killed another 17. Troops surrounded the town of Youssifiyah
and told residents over loudspeakers to stay inside.

Dozens
Killed In Iraq Attacks 14 May 2007 At least sixty people have
been killed and hundreds injured in attacks in Iraq on Sunday. A suicide
bomber struck in the Kurdish town of Makhmur in northern Iraq, killing
at least 45 people and wounding about one hundred.

U.S.
Sweeps Iraq Seeking 3 Soldiers Missing in Attack 13 May 2007
About 4,000 American ground troops supported by surveillance aircraft,
attack helicopters and spy satellites swept towns and farmland south
of Baghdad today searching for three American soldiers who disappeared
on Saturday after their patrol was ambushed, military officials said.

MoD
kept failure of best tank quiet 12 May 2007 One of the British
Army's Challenger 2 tanks was pierced by an Iraqi 'insurgent' missile
more than eight months earlier than the Government has previously admitted.
...The injured soldier's family has accused the Government of a cover-up
and demanded to know why soldiers manning Challenger 2 tanks had not
been warned of the failings with the tank's armour.

Republicans
fear defeat over Iraq 11 May 2007 Talking to Fox News, the conservative
broadcaster, on his visit to Baghdad on Thursday, Dick Cheney said:
"We didn’t get elected to worry just about the fate of the Republican
party. Our mission is to do everything we can to prevail...against one
of the most evil opponents we’ve ever faced." Back in Washington
Mr Cheney’s Republican colleagues are showing growing irritation with
the vice-president’s [sic] Iraq war logic.

"The
Color of Blood, the Color of Resistance, the Color of Iraq."
By Mike Whitney 13 May 2007 It was Cheney who convinced his buddies
in the banking and oil industries that Iraq would be "easy pickins".
And, it was Cheney who figured out that the American people could be
duped into attacking a defenseless nation. And he was right. For 6 years,
Cheney has worked the levers behind the scenes to keep the American
people in a constant state of fear. That gave him the time to move his
armies into place and transform the government into a "one party" police
state. For the most part, things have gone smoothly—the criminal activities
of the state have been concealed behind the smokescreen of the "war
on terror", the biggest public relations swindle in history.

'Blair
digging graves to make his legacy' 13 May 2007 Sean Connery
has given his most incendiary ever interview on politics, branding Tony
Blair an "a***hole" making his legacy from graves in Iraq and suggesting
that First Minister Jack McConnell is frustrating democracy in Scotland.

U.S.,
Iran to hold talks on Iraq 14 May 2007 The U.S. and Iran will
hold rare meetings within the next few weeks in Baghdad to discuss the
insurgency in Iraq, officials from the two nations said Sunday. The
talks, to be conducted between the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and Iranian
officials, would be the highest-level negotiations acknowledged between
the two countries in recent years.

Pakistan
set to declare state of emergency 12 May 2007 President Musharraf
could declare a state of emergency in Pakistan amid growing civil unrest
against his increasingly embattled regime. Security forces were placed
on high alert yesterday, detaining hundreds of activists on the eve
of an anti-government rally in Karachi.

Hicks's
lawyer overlooked for promotion 14 May 2007 David Hicks's US
military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, has been passed over for promotion
and knocked back as a trainee judge in what appears to be payback for
his work on behalf of the Guantanamo Bay detainee. Major Mori, whose
zealous defence of Hicks since November 2003 was admired by many Australians
and instrumental in Hicks' lenient deal, has an uncertain future with
the military and could potentially be assigned to non-legal work.

Lawyers
to give opening arguments in Padilla trial 13 May 2007 Lawyers
are to give opening arguments Monday in the trial of Jose Padilla, a
US citizen charged with conspiring to commit terror but not with the
alleged radioactive bomb plot cited in his arrest five years ago. Padilla,
who spent three-and-a-half years in military detention without charge
before being moved to the civilian court system, is accused of plotting
to murder, kidnap and maim people in Afghanistan and elsewhere outside
the United States.

Authorities
in Germany Detained 2 With al Qaeda Ties --Men Were Conducting
Surveillance on U.S. Base, Security Sources Tell ABC News 12 May 2007
Authorities detained two suspects believed to be part of a cell of the
Islamic Jihad Union, an 'al Qaeda'-affiliated Uzbek group, intelligence
sources have told ABC News.

FBI
says domestic extremists big threat 13 May 2007 Federal authorities
say the FBI cannot possibly counter the growing threat posed by homegrown
extremists [FBI agents] without the help of two often unreliable
allies. One is an American public... the other is a small but growing
army of informants, some of whom might be in it for the wrong reasons,
such as money, political ax-grinding or their own legal problems.

Tennessee
teachers stage fake gunman attack --Staged assault on 6th-graders
unfolds on school trip; parents not amused 13 May 2007 Staff members
of an elementary school [Scales Elementary School] staged a fictitious
gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not
a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.

Terrorism
amendment bill a threat to our civil liberties By John Minto
14 May 2007 (NZ) Here we go again. Our democratic freedoms, civil liberties
and human rights are under threat once more under the guise of the war
on terror. The most recent assault comes under cover of the Suppression
of Terrorism Amendment Bill 2007, which is before Parliament's foreign
affairs, defence and trade select committee, with submissions due by
the end of this week. The Government says it is just doing its part
supporting international moves to isolate and control terrorism. In
reality, it is part of the United States leadership's drive to have
its foreign-policy objectives adopted by governments around the world.

Ground
Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani's Legacy 14 May 2007 From the
beginning, there was no doubt that Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his
team ruled the hellish [9/11] disaster site. Officials from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, all with extensive disaster response
experience, arrived almost immediately, only to be placed on the sideline.
One Army Corps official said Mr. Giuliani acted
like a "benevolent dictator." Kenneth Holden, the
Department of Design and Construction commissioner until January 2004,
said in a deposition in the federal lawsuit against the city that he
initially expected FEMA or the Army Corps to try to take over the cleanup
operation. Mr. Giuliani never let them.

Voter-Fraud
Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals 14 May 2007 Nearly half the
U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were
targets of Republican complaints that they were lax on voter fraud,
including efforts by pResidential adviser Karl Rove to encourage more
prosecutions of election- law violations, according to new documents
and interviews.

Bank
Files May Undercut Wolfowitz, Critics Say 14 May 2007 Documents
circulating at the World Bank suggest that Paul D. Wolfowitz, the bank
president, understood that his role in ordering a pay increase and promotion
for his companion in 2005 might be seen as a conflict of interest but
insisted on proceeding anyway, bank officials who are critics of Mr.
Wolfowitz said Sunday.

Hundreds
of Birds Falling from the Skies Above Florida --Smoke From Wildfires
Leave Birds Dazed and Confused 13 May 2007 The clouds of smoke produced
by the fire are causing hundreds of birds in Broward and Miami-Dade
counties to drop out of the sky or crash into the windows of buildings.
Wildlife officials say hundreds of yellow warblers have died.

Quick
action!Tell
the Bush Administration to protect polar bears and their critical habitat
(Polar Bear SOS) Polar bears are completely dependent on Arctic sea
ice to survive, but 80 percent of that ice could be gone in 20 years
and all of it by 2040... The Bush Administration's proposal to list
the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act is a
crucial first step toward ensuring a future for these magnificent Arctic
creatures. Yet the administration's proposal does not designate "critical
habitat" for protection, even though melting habitat from global warming
is the main threat to the polar bear's survival. Send a message urging
the Bush Administration to finalize the listing of the polar bear and
designate its critical habitat.

Climate
change to force mass migration --1bn likely to be displaced
by 2050, says report --Environmental factors will exacerbate existing
crisis 14 May 2007 A billion people - one in seven people on Earth today
- could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the
effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis,
a new report from Christian Aid predicts.

*****

DoD
to 'augment civilian law' during pandemic or bioterror attackBy
Lori Price 11 May 2007 Is Bush is getting ready to play the Bioterror
Card? The GOP cannot steal an inevitable Democratic landslide in November
2008. Will the Bush regime continue its illegitimate rule and empire
by implementing a full-blown police state, in the aftermath of an avian
flu pandemic or (Bush-engendered) bioterror attack?

Contingencies
for nuclear terrorist attack
--Government working up plan to 'prevent' chaos in wake of bombing of
major city 11 May 2007 As concerns grow that terrorists [the Bush
regime] might attack a major American city with a nuclear bomb, a high-level
group of government and military officials has been quietly preparing
an emergency survival program that would include the building of bomb
shelters, steps to prevent panicked evacuations and the possible suspension
of some civil liberties... Fred Ikle said that the government
should plan how it could restrict civil liberties and enforce a sort
of martial law in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, but
also have guidelines for how those liberties could be restored later.

'More
troops' call as Iraq murders soar --234
bodies dumped in Baghdad in only 11 days 13 May 2007 The
US military surge in Iraq, designed to turn around the course of the
war, appears to be failing as senior US officers admit they need yet
more troops and new figures show a sharp increase in the victims of
[US] death squads in Baghdad.

US
general asks for more troops in northern Iraq 12 May 2007 The
commander of US forces in northern Iraq said yesterday that he did not
have enough troops to bring stability, sharpening the debate in America
about the effectiveness of George Bush's war plan.

Iraq
MPs gather votes to force US withdrawal
12 May 2007 Iraqi MPs are gathering votes to force their government
to set a deadline for US forces to withdraw from the country and think
they have a majority, a leading Shiite politician said on Friday. Baha
al-Aaraji, a supporter of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, told
AFP that 144 members of the 275-seat national assembly had signed
a draft law that would set a departure timetable for US troops.

Iraqi
parliament objects to Baghdad wall 12 May 2007 Iraq's parliament
objected Saturday to the construction of walls around Baghdad neighborhoods
and called on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to testify about other
security issues. Construction of the walls -- particularly in the Baghdad
neighborhood of Azamiyah -- has been criticized by residents and Sunni
clerics who say it is a form of sectarian discrimination.

Billions
in Oil Missing in Iraq, U.S. Study Finds 12 May 2007 Between
100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production
over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned
off through [Cheney Halliburton's] corruption or smuggling, according
to a draft American government report. Using an average of $50 a barrel,
the report said the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily.

Pentagon
Opens Inquiry of Troop-Support Group 12 May 2007 The Pentagon
is looking into complaints that Defense Department officials charged
with building public support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might
have engaged in improper fund-raising and unauthorized spending, officials
said Friday. The inspector general is examining whether officials who
run "America Supports You," a three-year-old Pentagon program
lauded by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, helped arrange a fund-raiser
for a private foundation set up last December by former Bush administration
appointees.

U.S.
Hunts for Missing Personnel in Iraq 13 May 2007 U.S. and Iraqi
troops searched house-to-house and combed fields with their bare hands
Saturday after American troops and their Iraqi interpreter came under
attack in the notorious "triangle of death" south of Baghdad,
leaving five dead and three missing.

Attack
Kills 5 Troops in Iraq, 3 Missing 12 May 2007 Seven U.S. soldiers
and an Iraqi army interpreter came under attack Saturday morning during
a patrol in a Sunni 'insurgent' stronghold south of Baghdad, leaving
five dead and three missing, the military said.

F-16s
Destroy Purported 'Terror Camp' in Iraq 10 May 2007 U.S. Air
Force F-16s obliterated three truck-mounted anti-aircraft weapons and
killed 10 to 14 'al Qaeda operatives' near Fallujah on Tuesday, according
to the military.

U.S.
officers rejected Haditha probe request: Marine 12 May 2007
U.S. commanders rejected a local council's request for an investigation
days after Marines in Iraq killed 24 civilians in the town of Haditha
in November 2005, according to testimony on Saturday at a military tribunal.

Blair
faces questions over alleged US plan to attack al-Jazeera 12
May 2007 The government is to be questioned in parliament next week
over what discussions Tony Blair had with George Bush about plans to
bomb the Arabic television satellite station al-Jazeera, at a particularly
delicate time in the war in Iraq. Peter Kilfoyle, a former Labour defence
minister, is to table questions after repeated allegations that Mr Bush
made the threat at a meeting with Mr Blair in the White House in April
2004.

Edwards
to Ask Antiwar Stand of Americans 12 May 2007 Stepping up his
antiwar stance, John Edwards said yesterday that he would call for Americans
to "raise their voices" on Memorial Day against the Iraq war
and would say that patriotism required supporting the troops by bringing
them home.

3,000
Gather for Obama Rally in Missouri 12 May 2007 Democratic presidential
hopeful Barack Obama urged about 3,000 supporters Saturday to help send
members to Congress who will oppose the war in Iraq. "We have 51 votes
in the Senate, and to have a veto-proof majority the next time we send
a bill to end the war, we're going to need 16 more votes," Obama said.

War-funding
bill faces uncertain future in Senate 11 May 2007 President
[sic] Bush might not get a chance to follow through on his vow to veto
a $96 billion war spending bill passed by the House that would tie war
funding past July to a progress report. A 221-205 vote on Thursday sends
the bill to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future as Republican
and Democratic leaders try to work out a compromise with the White House.

Air
Force Fleet Wearing Down 08 May 2007 The Air Force's fleet of
warplanes is older than ever and wearing out faster because of heavy
use in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the service's top combat commander
[Gen. Ronald Keys]. Compared to 1996, the Air Force now spends 87% more
on maintenance for a warplane fleet that is less ready to fly, Air Force
records show.

Governors
say war has gutted Guard --States fear lack of disaster response
13 May 2007 As wildfires, floods and tornadoes batter the nation, the
readiness of the National Guard to deal with those disasters, as well
as potential terrorist assaults, is so depleted by deployments to foreign
wars and equipment shortfalls that Congress is considering moves to
curtail the president's [sic] powers over the Guard and require the
Defense Department to analyze how prepared the country is for domestic
emergencies.

Ret.
Gen: Iraq straining National Guard 12 May 2007 The National
Guard isn't as strong as it should be because of the war in Iraq and
American communities will suffer as a result, retired Air Force Gen.
Melvyn Montano said Saturday. Delivering the Democrats' weekly radio
address, Montano said the strain means it will take longer for Greensburg,
Kan., to recover from a devastating tornado that leveled the town a
week ago.

Arizona
guard impacted by national supplies shortfall 11 May 2007 Arizona's
National Guard is working with only 35 percent of its needed equipment,
a shortfall that has been compounded by the demands of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan. It's part of a nationwide shortfall estimated at $38
billion between now and 2013, one that has governors agitating to get
more funding from the federal government to cover the losses.

After
5 years at Gitmo, alleged bin Laden aide charged 10 May 2007
The United States filed charges of conspiracy and providing support
for terrorism Thursday against a Guantanamo detainee who [allegedly]
worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden. Salim Ahmed Hamdan has been
detained at Guantanamo since May 2002.

Cheney
meets Saudi king, Iraq and Iran on agenda 12 May 2007 U.S. Vice
President [sic] Dick Cheney arrived on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, a key
U.S. ally which has grown cold on Washington's Iraq policy, for talks
with King Abdullah expected to discuss Iran's growing power.

EU
proposes monitoring radical mosques
12 May 2007 Security officials from Europe's largest countries backed
a plan Saturday to profile mosques on the continent and identify radical
Islamic clerics who raise the threat of homegrown terrorism. The project,
to be finished by the fall, will focus on the roles of imams, their
training, their ability to speak in the local language and their sources
of funding, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini
told a news conference after a meeting on terrorism.

Chertoff
urges data-sharing deal with EU 12 May 2007 Pieces of information
gathered about airline passengers arriving in the United States can
be crucial when least expected to preventing terror attacks, Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Saturday as he pushed for a
deal with European countries on sharing data. European government are
trying to ensure the deal will not violate their strict privacy laws,
a legacy of the continent's history with authoritarian regimes [such
as the US].

Push
to oust Gonzales loses momentum 10 May 2007 Republican members
of Congress on Thursday leapt to the defence of Alberto Gonzales, the
embattled US attorney-general, as Democratic efforts to oust him appeared
to lose momentum.

Former
CIA Official, Contractor Faces New Charges 12 May 2007 New charges
have been filed alleging that a former top CIA official pushed a proposed
$100 million government contract for his best friend in return for lavish
vacations, private jet flights and a lucrative job offer. The indictment,
returned Thursday, replaces charges brought in February against Kyle
"Dusty" Foggo, who resigned from the spy agency a year ago, and Poway-based
defense contractor Brent Wilkes. The pair now face 30 wide-ranging counts
of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Critics
Bash 'Warrior Culture' of LAPD 13 May 2007 The Police Department's
violent response at the end of an immigrant demonstration is the latest
incident highlighting what critics describe as the force's "warrior
culture."

For
Giuliani, 9/11 Led to Riches[Yeah, we call that "motive."
--LRP] 13 May 2007 On Dec. 7, 2001, nearly three months after the
terrorist attack that had made him a national hero [sic] and a little
over three weeks before he would leave office, New York Mayor Rudolph
W. Giuliani took the first official step toward making himself rich...
Over the next five years, Giuliani Partners earned more than $100 million,
according to a knowledgeable source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
because the firm's financial information is private.

Romney's
Estimated Wealth in Millions 12 May 2007 Republican Mitt "Big
Dig" Romney is expected to report financial assets between $190
million and $250 million, an amount that would likely make him the wealthiest
of the 2008 presidential candidates.

Katrina
Aid Program Is $2.9 Billion Short --Uncertainty Plagues La.
Homeowners 12 May 2007 The massive federally funded program for rebuilding
Louisiana homes is short nearly $3 billion, administrators told a state
legislative panel here today, leaving uncertain for now how the owners
of roughly 100,000 flood-wrecked houses here will be compensated.

Thousands
of Nuclear Arms Workers See Cancer Claims Denied or Delayed
12 May 2007 Unable to access secret government files, or even some of
his own personnel records, Walter McKenzie could not sufficiently prove
that he was exposed to something that may have made him sick. Nor can
most of the 104,000 other workers, retirees and family members who have
sought help from a federal program intended to atone for decades of
hazardous working conditions at scores of nuclear weapons facilities
around the country.